Liverpool manager Arne Slot admitted that he was open to the prospect of playing a 4-4-2 to accommodate both Alexander Isak and Hugo Ekitiké, although only under specific circumstances.
It took months, a strike and £125 million ($168.5 million) to extract Isak from Newcastle United. However, as Liverpool chairman Tom Werner revealed, the club were quite content with the acquisition of Ekitiké before belatedly sealing the most expensive deal in British football history on Deadline Day.
