Shearer: Isak failed to perform in club and regain form in the national team

Alexander Isak's failed to make much of a mark at Anfield since completing a British record £125million move to Liverpool from Newcastle United, and Alan Shearer has wasted no time in calling him out

Alan Shearer claims that Alexander Isak's move to Liverpool "hasn't helped" the striker. The 26-year-old was embroiled in one of the most controversial transfer sagas this summer.

While things between Isak and Newcastle United appeared rosy from the outside looking in at the end of last season, his future at the club was cast into speculation when the Reds registered an interest. And while the Magpies were initially reluctant to let their talisman part ways with the club, their outlook sharp changed after a summer of unrest on Tyneside.

Isak missed Newcastle's pre-season tour of Asia, instead opting to train with his former club of Real Sociedad, before announcing that he wished to explore his options elsewhere.

Upon his return to the north east, Isak was forced to train in isolation and away from Eddie Howe's first-team, before the Swede released a damning statement online which claimed that the club had broken promises made to him behind closed doors.

He also explained that the best course of action as a result was for all parties to move on. What followed were claims that Isak was reportedly refusing to ever turn out for the Toon Army ever again, regardless of if he secured a move away ahead of deadline day.

And while the 'will he, won't he?' saga ran down to the deadline, Liverpool eventually managed to secure their target in a British record transfer fee of £125million, just hours before the transfer window slammed shut on September 1.

As a result of scoring 62 goals and providing 11 assists for Newcastle from 109 appearances, expectations were certainly high for the forward to hit the ground running at Anfield, especially considering how much effort the Reds put into securing his services.

However, Isak has failed to make much of a mark since his arrival, with his only goal for the club coming in a narrow 2-1 win over Southampton in the Carabao Cup last month. And Newcastle legend Shearer has wasted very little time in criticising the striker as a result.

Speaking with Betfair about Isak's dismal start to the season, Shearer said: "It hasn't been the start to the season that Isak would've wanted. When you consider Sweden's front three of Gyokeres, Isak and Elanga and you can't score and are on the brink of not qualifying for the World Cup.

"Obviously, the manager has paid the price and lost his job which is no surprise. Obviously with the Newcastle situation, Isak not playing or training and understandably hasn't hit the ground running at Liverpool, he was probably looking to get to full fitness at this international break, but it's gone the other way.

"It hasn't worked, he and they haven't scored and can't score which, when you look at the ability of that front three, being bottom of the group doesn't look right at all. The summer certainly hasn't helped Isak."

Isak has played in three Premier League fixtures for Liverpool this season thus far, and has failed to find the back of the net in any of them. Meanwhile, he has also failed to impress on the international front with Sweden.

The stalwart missed a large chunk of his nation's World Cup qualifiers last month as a result of not playing a single game at club level due to his drawn-out transfer saga - seeing just 20 minutes in Sweden's 2-0 loss to Kosovo. And while he started both games for the Scandinavians against Switzerland and Kosovo during the most-recent round of qualifiers, he failed to have much of an impact whatsoever.

Sweden suffered a 2-0 loss to Switzerland last Friday, before they were handed a 1-0 defeat to Kosovo on Monday. They sit rock bottom of Group B as a result, with their chances of making next summer's tournament in North America looking slim-to-none. They also recently parted ways with their head coach, Jon Dahl Tomasson.