A Closer Look at Alexander Isak's Injury Record

There aren't many concerns regarding Liverpool's record signing. Isak's availability history for Newcastle might be one, and not just when he's on strike

Sep 12, 2025

Alexander Isak can do it all. He’s quick, has great movement and - as they say in baseball - he can tear the cover off the ball. His FBRef scouting report is lush, awash with beautiful green bars across multiple metrics.

If there is one concern with Liverpool’s new £125m man, it’s his fitness record. Isak completed 63.7 per cent of Newcastle’s Premier League minutes across the last three seasons. In only one of those campaigns did he have European football, with the Magpies lasting just six games in the old Champions League format.

The 3,300 minutes Isak accumulated in all club competitions in 2024/25 was a career high. A decent total, it was still surpassed by Roberto Firmino in his first six seasons with the Reds, Sadio Mané in his final four and Mohamed Salah in seven of eight to date. They were (mostly) playing Jürgen Klopp’s high-pressing, high-intensity football too. At Liverpool, the demands are higher.

In each of Eddie Howe’s four seasons with Newcastle they suffered more injuries per 1000 minutes played than Liverpool. Arne Slot’s impressive record for keeping players fit should aid Isak’s availability.

He is relatively young too; just because he hasn’t been close to ever-present before doesn’t mean he definitively can’t be in future. Both Firmino and Salah topped 3,900 minutes in the age 25 season that the Swede is about to begin.

These are hypotheticals, though; Isak’s appearance record is a matter of fact. Given the small matter of the £212m that the Reds have committed in transfer fee and reported salary across six years, it’s worth examining his injury record.

2022/23

Percentage of Newcastle Premier League minutes played: 44.5

Percentage of minutes played in all competitions: 40.2

We start at the bottom with a data set that requires a small asterisk. Newcastle had already played three league matches (plus one in the League Cup) that season before signing Isak, four before he was eligible to play. Excluding those pushes the above percentages up by a shade over five per cent.

This was still the season in which he suffered by far his longest absence, missing 13 consecutive matches after having only made three appearances in black and white. Any quotes which follow are from Howe and taken from Isak’s Premier Injuries page.

September 30: “He picked up an injury training with Sweden, but the scan doesn't look too bad. We're not overly concerned.
October 16: “Alex has reinjured his thigh… He's going to be out for a period of time.”

Liverpool fans are well versed in players suffering injuries in international training. Roy Hodgson’s England were masters of breaking Reds. We can only speculate, but it’s possible Newcastle’s treatment of this injury wasn’t the best given Isak swiftly suffered a recurrence before resuming first team action.

Returning in January 2023, he missed one more match the following month. As it was due to concussion protocol after blocking a free-kick with his face, we can ascribe that to ‘shit happens’ and move on.

2023/24

Percentage of Newcastle Premier League minutes played: 65.9

Percentage of minutes played in all competitions: 63.6

Newcastle’s success in 2022/23 was aided by Howe keeping an incredibly stable line-up. Once he settled upon his boys he backed them week after week. It steered the Magpies into the Champions League.

Even with added European commitments the following season, the Newcastle manager still only averaged 1.8 starting XI changes from one league game to the next. However, at one point Howe’s hand was forced by poor form. He made five amendments to the side against Brentford in September after three straight defeats with Isak one of the quintet that was benched.

The Swedish forward then sustained an injury on international duty in the October break. While he didn’t technically miss any Newcastle matches at first, Isak had to come off after just 14 minutes against Dortmund on the 25th.

October 25: “It's difficult to tell [how serious it is], very early days. Alex has suffered a recurrence of his groin injury that he had during international duty.”

Hmm. We can only speculate, but etc etc. This issue caused Isak to miss five games, returning to action exactly one month later. He was absent for two more matches in December, with a further three missed in February.

December 16: “With Alex, we don't think it's a problem, but he still has the after-effects of his groin injury. He's just feeling a tightness, so we didn't want to risk making that worse.”
January 30: “It looks like a slight groin injury. We'll get a proper diagnosis. Hopefully, we get him back sooner rather than later."

Was he rushed back and overplayed before he was ready? Would these groin issues come back to haunt all concerned? You might very well think that, I couldn’t possibly comment.

2024/25

Percentage of Newcastle Premier League minutes played: 80.6

Percentage of minutes played in all competitions: 75.9

Isak’s final season with Newcastle saw the most individual absences (four). Thankfully they only totalled six matches.

One of those was an FA Cup tie against Bromley too. Granted, he was substituted in the preceding match after “feeling his hamstring a little bit,” but would he have played against the League Two side if fully fit?

Another match Isak missed was against AFC Wimbledon in the Carabao Cup, although that fixture was sandwiched by league games in which he also played no part. The exact cause of this absence is difficult to ascertain.

On September 15, he was withdrawn at half time of a win at Wolves. “The ball grazed his eye; we thought that was the main reason for him coming off the pitch. Then we found he had a knock on his foot,” Howe said on the 20th, the day before playing Isak for 90 minutes at Fulham.

The following week, the Swede was “still nursing his toe injury; he will be a doubt for tomorrow.” He was more than a doubt, Ed, he missed three games.

You will recall the next match in which he wasn’t involved as it occurred at Anfield in February. It was thanks to a trademark groin complaint.

That just leaves a loss at Arsenal in the penultimate game of the campaign. You’ll never guess what the problem was. “It certainly probably needs looking at as to why he's getting these sort of groin complaints,” Howe said. It’s Liverpool’s job to look into it now, pal.

Conclusion

It is unlikely Isak will get through his debut Reds campaign unscathed. Equally, it’s almost two years since he was out for more than three matches in a row or absent for over two weeks.

His two longest periods of unavailability were caused by injuries sustained in training on international duty, a risk Liverpool cannot control. Isak hasn’t suffered issues during matches too often, suggesting that if properly managed he should be okay.

This is evidenced by his record when in Howe’s XI in league or Europe for Newcastle: an average of 80.6 minutes played across 82 starts. Having moved to a club with a better history of keeping players fit, Isak should be available more often.

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