The buzz started the moment the ink dried on Alexander Isak’s contract with Liverpool. As soon as the announcement was made, excited fans began envisioning a promising future for their new star player.

There was a palpable excitement among the supporters, who eagerly anticipated Isak making a dazzling debut for Liverpool. The chatter on WhatsApp was full of predictions that the Swedish striker might score his inaugural goal for the Reds against their fierce rivals, Everton, on September 20.

Virgil van Dijk had famously made a splash with a decisive header against Everton in the FA Cup back in January 2018; destiny often seems to have a say in these matchups. Similarly, Nick Barmby, who switched allegiances from Everton to Liverpool, scored his first goal for the Reds against his former club.

Unfortunately, after a tumultuous summer that saw Isak temporarily absent from Newcastle, he wasn’t in top form to begin his journey with Liverpool. To add to his woes, he now faces several months out due to an injury, delaying his much-anticipated impact on the field.

Late Monday night, Liverpool announced that Isak had undergone successful surgery on a fracture in his lower left leg. Coach Arne Slot is likely to face a somber press conference today, given the cruel timing of the injury just as Isak seemed to be hitting his stride.

Alexander Isak was skittled by Micky van de Van during Liverpool’s clash with Tottenham

The striker is since confirmed to have fractured his lower leg in another blow to his Reds start

Isak’s goal in the tense 2-1 victory over Tottenham had been a glimpse of what Slot had hoped for from the 26-year-old, especially after the club’s substantial investment. The coach’s ecstatic reaction to the goal underscored his eagerness for Isak to become a game-changer for the team.

Those ambitions must now be shelved. The return fixture with Tottenham is on March 14 and Liverpool could have as many as 20 games to fulfil before then, including potential Champions League knockout fixtures – it will be a miracle if Isak is available for any.

Slot is devastated for Isak and you can expect, when he talks about the injury for the first time, there will be a sharpness in his voice, as there remains a feeling of unhappiness within Anfield about the nature of a challenge from Mickey Van de Ven that caused the damage.

Clearly, there was no malicious intent from Van de Ven but given the force and speed with which he thundered into Isak, his legs moving like scissors, there was some surprise that VAR officials did not feel it necessary to examine whether it was a tackle within the rules.

‘I’m sad for Isak, as he had a bad beginning at Liverpool,’ Frack Leboeuf, the former Chelsea defender and France World Cup winner, noted on ESPN. ‘But I’m sorry. I love Micky Van de Ven, the way he is behaving and how he plays football. I love the player.

‘But he has to be punished. I’m sorry. You cannot get out of that. I was a defender, I never injured any player. You can tackle, you can be hard – but you have to be in control of what you do. I’m sorry – but in that matter, and the result, says a lot. Van de Ven wasn’t in control. Something has to come out.’

The only thing that will be ‘out’ of this episode is Isak, who had been desperately trying to get himself up to speed behind-the-scenes. There had been extra running sessions, more work in the gym and longer hours at Liverpool’s AXA enclave to make up for lost time.

He would not have been immune to the noise. There had been tough periods in his career at Real Sociedad and Borussia Dortmund but nothing like this; the lack of goals, the lack of big moments, he told Swedish newspaper Afonbladet, had left him at a loss.

Arne Slot has had to do without his blockbuster summer signing for large chunks of the season

In a curious twist, Isak’s injury woes since moving to Merseyside match Andy Carroll’s in 2011

What had been most disconcerting, in the build up to the Tottenham game, was the unusual parallel that could be drawn to the last time Liverpool made a player from Newcastle their club record signing back in January 2011.

Time marches on but the astonishment of Liverpool sending a helicopter on a deadline day nearly 15 years ago to get Andy Carroll in the building, for £35million, was comparable with them going for broke this summer in a way that left seasoned observers noting was very unlike Liverpool.

Isak, spookily, has a near identical return after 16 games as Carroll: 10 starts, three goals in all competitions, the differences being he did it in 781 minutes compared to the former England man’s 1016 and he also managed an assist.

To be clear, there is absolutely no comparison between the two as players: Isak is more skilful, technically more proficient, a better athlete, has more speed and is a better finisher but, like Carroll, he arrived out-of-shape and the momentum a big Liverpool transfer needs has never been there.

Those who work with him will tell you it is going to come, the same way they are adamant that Florian Wirtz will one day be like a starburst of creativity and magic. But when that day comes for Isak is impossible to say. A player, a team, a manager and a fanbase are back at square one.