Arne Slot warned over £241m Liverpool problem as stars struggle in Man Utd loss

Liverpool slumped to a fourth straight loss on Sunday at the hands of Manchester United and questions are now being asked of Arne Slot’s two biggest summer signings

Further question marks over Liverpool’s two most expensive summer signings in Alexander Isak and Florian Wirtz have been raised after Arne Slot’s side fell to a fourth consecutive defeat against Manchester United on Sunday afternoon.

Isak, 26, was the final – and most expensive – acquisition of an unprecedented summer of spending from the Premier League champions, who broke the British transfer record twice to land the former Newcastle striker and Wirtz, the latter joining in a deal worth £116m from Bayer Leverkusen back in June.

Unfortunately for Liverpool and Slot, both Isak and Wirtz have failed to hit the ground running in the early weeks of the season, with scrutiny growing on both players in the wake of another loss for the Reds.

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Wirtz has failed to register a goal contribution in his first 10 appearances in a Liverpool shirt and started a second successive Premier League game on the bench against United. Isak, meanwhile, looked off the pace after taking no part in pre-season for Newcastle. But while Slot says now is the time to judge Isak after stressing that the Sweden star is now up to speed, Wayne Rooney believes the former Real Sociedad star should not currently be first-choice ahead of Hugo Ekitike, who has impressed since moving to Anfield.

“I wouldn’t play Isak, he hasn’t looked ready since coming from Newcastle,” the former England and Manchester United forward said on The Wayne Rooney Show. “He hasn’t trained, hasn’t had a pre-season. It’s so important. While Newcastle were training he was probably sat at home on the phone to his agent for six hours a day trying to get a move.

“It’s so difficult when you don’t have a pre-season. He might’ve done stuff by himself but he’s paying the price of it.

“On performances, he doesn’t deserve to be playing ahead of Ekitike.”

While Isak’s latest display has been scrutinised, Wirtz has also been singled out by pundits; Emmanuel Petit claimed ahead of Sunday’s big game against United that the Germany playmaker is not worth the £116m that Liverpool paid back in the summer.

Isak at least has the benefit of being a proven Premier League player but Wirtz is a different entity and Jamie Carragher conceded that question marks over the former Leverkusen star are likely to continue, with some maybe even wondering if signing him was a mistake if he is unable to hit top form before the early months of 2026.

“How long do you give foreign players when they first come to the league? You don’t write the first year off but you say the second year they’ll improve and get better,” he said on Sky Sports.

“But, if I’m being honest, if I think of the great foreign signings – Sami Hyppia, Mo Salah, Sadio Mane, Luis Suarez, Didi Hamann – they all hit the ground running.

“I can’t think of many, who had an average, poor start – I’m not talking seven games by the way but if you’re getting to Christmas and January and being like ‘oh’. History doesn’t tell me that foreign signings coming into England take a year.”

He continued: “Seven or eight games is too early [to judge] but once we get to January, February, March when is the time we can start saying ‘maybe this was a mistake?’

“Especially at Liverpool, players who are great foreign signings for the club hit the ground running.”

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