Leboeuf believes that performance should outweigh price tags and reputations when Slot selects his starting XI. Speaking to OLBG, he stated: “It’s going to be tricky because right now the only one who should play is Hugo Ekitike. Hugo should play every game because Alexander Isak didn’t train for a while, was fighting against Newcastle in order to come to Liverpool, but right now Isak is not the Isak we have known from years playing for Newcastle.”
The former Chelsea defender argued that Ekitike has earned his place and should remain the first-choice option regardless of Liverpool’s enormous investment. “But he put a lot of pressure on Hugo. Hugo started very well, scoring every game in the team which is a shadow of itself. But right now, Hugo is doing great and Arne Slot should only play him. And it doesn’t matter if the other guy costs £130 or 150m. If he’s not ready enough, you should play Hugo.”
Leboeuf added that flexibility exists if Slot wants to accommodate both players in the lineup, while warning it presents a major squad-management challenge. “There is a possibility for Hugo also to play on the left side. It’s also possible for Isak to do so. [Slot] has the choice of a king as we say in France.”
Leboeuf went on to talk about Salah’s form hurting Liverpool’s title defence: “We have to talk about Mohamed Salah as well, he is not the Salah we have seen. So you have Salah, Cody Gakpo, Ekitike and Isak. But what do you do with Florian Wirtz? So it’s complicated but they’ve decided to go there. Personally, when I saw Ekitike starting with Liverpool, I said they don’t need Isak.
“I thought they should’ve given up and said no on the signing [of Isak] because it’s going to create more problems than bring results. Arne Slot needs to make choices and you have to make sure that the dressing room is okay with that and they live together in a good way with a good vibe – he will have to be psychologically very good.”