The summer promised a seismic shift up front; Premier League clubs splashed cash on what felt like a new golden trio of finishers.
By November’s international break, that headline-grabbing story had begun to fray. Alexander Isak, Benjamin Sesko, and Viktor Gyökeres arrived with fanfare and hefty price tags, but collectively they’d mustered just six league goals, leaving pundits asking: what went wrong?
The money and the myth
English clubs spent like it mattered. Liverpool smashed the British transfer record to land Alexander Isak for £125 million; Manchester United and Arsenal paid similarly heavyweight fees for Benjamin Sesko and Viktor Gyökeres, respectively.
Add Hugo Ekitike, João Pedro, and Nick Woltemade into the mix, and this cohort; six forwards who alone represent roughly half a billion pounds of transfer fees, helped push a record summer past £3 billion in Premier League deals. The spectacle arrived with sky-high expectations. The reality, so far, has been patchy.
Alexander Isak — Interrupted ignition
Liverpool bought a bona fide top-class striker and expected him to accelerate their title defense. Instead, they’ve watched a fractured debut unfold. Isak arrived late, training alone during a protracted transfer saga, then needed what amounted to a second preseason to reach match fitness. Minutes have been sparse: across the league, he’s logged 253 minutes in four appearances, one shot on target, and a worrying groin problem that flared last month.
Add Liverpool’s own tactical recalibration under Arne Slot and unsteady new signings, and Isak’s integration has stalled. The raw talent is obvious; he simply hasn’t had the rhythm, health or service to rewrite the early script yet.
Benjamin Sesko — Raw talent, slow ignition
Manchester United's summer gamble on Sesko raised eyebrows: why prioritize a young centre-forward when central midfield looked far more urgent?
The 22-year-old has shown glimpses two close-range goals, industrious off-ball work and a willingness to stay behind after training to sharpen his game, but confidence has been brittle in match-defining moments.
Sesko’s seven shots on target across 618 minutes tell of chances created but not always taken. He’s also contending with a club in flux and a slight knee complaint that could stall momentum further. Time is still his ally, but the pressure mounts as United’s lineup and attacking rhythm remain unsettled.
Viktor Gyökeres- Winning the league, not the headlines
By contrast, Gyökeres’s start feels more ambiguous than catastrophic. Four league goals and a Champions League brace have helped Arsenal lead the table, yet the Swedish marksman has not yet exploded into the prolific force many expected after his Sporting CP numbers.
Arsenal have consciously adapted their style to accommodate him, prioritizing defensive solidity and set-piece ruthlessness while the forward’s lethal touch is still finding consistency. His link-up play and positional work have generally delivered; what’s missing is the ruthless finishing that turns good seasons into historic ones.
For now, his contributions buoy a title charge even if the goals-per-game headline is undercooked.
Why the slow starts are understandable
Big-money forwards rarely arrive in a vacuum.
Transfers that drag into deadline day, disrupted preseasons, new tactical blueprints, and injury caution all blunt the early returns.
Add the psychological weight of outsized fees and the noisy expectations of fans and media; it becomes easy to mistake transition for failure. Liverpool rubbing in Isak’s rotation, United sheltering a young striker through tactical growing pains, and Arsenal reshaping around a different kind of focal point are all plausible, patient strategies rather than instant flops
Historical perspective and the long view
First months rarely tell the full story. Premier League greats have exploded at differing tempos: Alan Shearer and Sergio Agüero hit the ground running; Thierry Henry adapted slowly before becoming unstoppable; Harry Kane’s ascent was a slow burn. Erling Haaland exists on a rarified timeline when it comes to immediate impact.
The current trio sit somewhere between patience and expectation. With fitness, tactical clarity, and minutes, any or all could flip the narrative before the turn of the year.
Verdict
The summer of strikers looked like a blockbuster; the autumn has felt more like a pause.
But football is a long play: adaptations are underway, chemistry must be coaxed, and fitness managed. Isak’s talent, Sesko’s potential and Gyökeres’s all-round game are real.
The story isn’t over —it’s merely moving into its next chapter, where form, minutes and momentum will decide whether this expensive cohort becomes the blockbuster success the window promised or a cautionary tale in Premier League spending.
