Alexander Isak not as good as William Osula? Have you taken leave of your senses??
Quite possibly, it is occasionally mentioned to me…but in this case, no.
Put it this way, at this precise moment in time, would you rather have William Osula or Alexander Isak at your football club?
I am guessing pretty much all fans, regardless of who they support, would automatically answer Alexander Isak.
In the last four weeks in four games, William Osula has scored the same number of Premier League goals as Alexander Isak has scored in the last 12 months and three days.
If you had predicted this a year ago, everybody would have thought that you had…taken leave of your senses.
Ah yes you shout, just as soon as Alexander Isak gets fully fit and up to speed, he will be scoring goals for fun and so on.
What is this based on though? Ah yes, what he did with Newcastle United under Eddie Howe.
The season before Newcastle United bought him, Alexander Isak scored only six La Liga goals across the entire 2021/22 campaign. Eddie Howe then looked after him and created a system and formulated a team plan that was all based on helping Alexander Isak score as many goals as possible. That isn’t what he has got at Liverpool and indeed, if they had to choose, pretty much every Liverpool fan would choose Hugo Ekitike over Alexander Isak if they could keep only one.
Alexander Isak had recurring injury problems during his time at Newcastle United and now he is injured yet again at Liverpool with a groin issue. Sounds familiar???
Alexander Isak turns 27 in September, not old for a striker, but certainly less good years ahead of him than behind him, when it comes to expectations on fitness and injuries, as well as effectiveness on the pitch…?
William Osula in contrast is still only 22 and has come on massively under Eddie Howe and his coaching staff. Can he keep on improving further? Reality is that Osula has still only made five Premier League starts for Newcastle United so why shouldn’t we believe it is possible?
Alexander Isak has had serious injury issues this season? Well so has William Osula.
The three competitions that both strikers have played in this season are the Premier League, Champions League and League Cup.
Alexander Isak has made eight starts, 21 appearances altogether, in these three competitions for Liverpool. He has played 1,239 minutes and scored four goals.
William Osula has made eight starts and played 905 minutes (including sub appearances) and scored seven goals.
The Premier League goals that Alexander Isak has scored, have been against relegation threatened Spurs, West Ham and Palace.
For William Osula they have come against current top eight teams Liverpool, Man U, Bournemouth and Brighton, as well as Palace. The wonder goal against Man U and the one against Liverpool, both came very late in matches where Newcastle had been playing with only ten men for most of the games.
Newcastle United spent only £10m (plus a possible £5m in future add-ons) on a hopeful punt with William Osula. He is still very raw but has great pace, is tall and is suggesting he could have far more to his game and will be able to score goals in a variety of ways.
Liverpool have a real situation with Alexander Isak. A £130m transfer fee and wages of more than £15m a season that they are tied to for years to come. For various reasons it is impossible to sell him (loss of face if having to sell him for a market value now of maybe £80m at the very most, whilst who is going to take him on with those wages, especially with his terrible injury record). If/when he does ever get fully fit again and Hugo Ekitike the same, will Alexander even get in the team ahead of the Frenchman? Or if they both play, which of them will get the main striking spot through the middle? Based on what has been so far, you would go 100% for Ekitike.
William Osula still has it all to prove BUT he has real potential.
Sometimes so much in football comes down to opportunity.
William Osula with only five Premier League starts this season and five goals. What would he have got this season is it had been 35 PL starts?
William Osula looks sure to end this season having scored more Premier League goals than Alexander Isak.
Who would you put your money of for next season?
I might make a note to revisit this in May 2027 and review what Alexander Isak and William Osula have achieved in the past 12 months.