Isak ACL injury? What Liverpool's worst fears would mean for Salah, Semenyo and January plans

Robin Bairner

21 Dec 2025 11:02 GMT
5 min read

Alexander Isak's injury threatens to change Arne Slot and Liverpool's transfer plans — © IMAGO

The moment Alexander Isak scored for Liverpool against Tottenham sent shockwaves around the Merseyside club – but not for reasons the Reds would have wished.

Article continues under the video

Isak’s strike against Spurs was supposed to be the moment his career at Anfield finally caught light, instead, it looks like it’s another hammer blow to what has been a nightmare move for the Sweden international.

His knee buckled under a challenge from Micky van de Ven, and instead of celebrating, he lay prone in obvious pain as concerned team-mates gathered round. He limped out of the action aided by two Liverpool medics.

Current ETV

Alexander Isak

F (C)

Liverpool

Alexander Isak

F (C)

Liverpool

ETV Range

€99.1M - €165.1M

With the spectre of a potential ACL rupture hanging over the Premier League’s most expensive player, Arne Slot admitted after the game that the Reds fear it could be a serious injury.

"We'll have to wait and see," said Slot. "But if a player scores and then gets injured and doesn't try to come back on the pitch, that's usually not a good thing."

The silver lining to this potentially devastating blow is that the January transfer window is just around the corner and Liverpool have well-established options they can pivot towards.

© IMAGO - Alexander Isak has had a difficult start to life at Liverpool

Antoine Semenyo bid incoming

Isak’s injury will have ramifications for the likes of Antoine Semenyo and Mohamed Salah, both of whom find themselves in the midst of a tsunami of transfer speculation ahead of the mid-season window.

Semenyo’s situation is more directly impacted by Isak. The Bournemouth star is someone that Liverpool were going to move for in the summer, but are likely to instead go for now.

He has occupied a centre-forward role for the Cherries at times this season and would arrive as a support to Hugo Ekitike in this role. Meanwhile, he has shown obvious scoring power from his position on the left, the position Slot initially planned to sign him for. With Isak laid up, he becomes a dual-purpose player.

With a release clause of €68.5 million (plus a further €6m in bonuses), any deal will only be complicated by other suitors. Manchester United are the other major threat here.

Liverpool chasing Semenyo in January now looks like an inevitability given his form, his price and his ability to solve an immediate headache that Slot has.

Compared

Antoine Semenyo

M (RL)

B'mouth

Antoine Semenyo

M (RL)

B'mouth

VS

Alexander Isak

F (C)

Liverpool

Alexander Isak

F (C)

Liverpool

2025/2026

Season Statistics

2025/2026

17	Appearances	16
8	Goals	3
3	Assists	1
25	Key Passes	5
38	Shots Total	25

All change with Salah

FootballTransfers previously reported that if Semenyo was signed in January, Liverpool would be willing to sanction Salah's exit.

Isak’s injury is likely to change Liverpool’s stance with regards the unhappy Egyptian, who claimed the club has broken promises to him and “thrown him under a bus”. It’s an issue that’s been put on pause while Salah is away at AFCON but has the potential to disrupt the second half of the season.

Allowing Salah to leave is now set to be a good deal more difficult if Isak is a long-term casualty. Slot will not want to lose numbers from his attack, so sanctioning any deal for his unsettled superstar promises to become a more delicate matter. It would take Liverpool making another signing for the situation to evolve once more.

Should Liverpool’s worst fears be confirmed and Isak faces a lengthy spell on the sidelines, it would come at devastating personal cost to the player, but at least Slot is braced for change and can make it in the transfer market.

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