When a club concludes a season that failed to reach initial expectations and they send their players away for international duty, it's always interesting to follow those players and see what linking up with their respective national team's can do for their mindset going forward.
Add in the fact that the international duty is actually competing at the FIFA World Cup and you have a perfect environment for a player to completely change the narrative surrounding them.
The list of players over the years that have turned good performances at the World Cup into big money moves, revamping their goals in the game and more is endless.
With that in mind, today we are going to take a look at three Liverpool players that have started rewriting the narrative around themselves during the tournament so far.
Alexander Isak - Sweden
Following a historic £125 million switch from Newcastle United to Liverpool late last summer, the Sweden No. 9 was never able to get any traction during his debut campaign.
Lack of preseason preparation, consistent fitness issues, both big and small, and a system that often left him isolated and underused when he was available meant a return of 3 goals and 4 assists from 14 total appearances.
Now, seven goal contributions from 14 matches would be very efficient work, for a super sub. When you are the most expensive player in the history of British football, the pressure and scrutiny that comes with that is immense.
At the end of the day, avaialability is one of the best abiliies, so that is where Isak failed miserably as some of his issues were self-inflcited, but the big one, a nasty leg injury against Spurs, was not.
Having said all that, returning at the end of the season before joining Sweden has seen him looking like the vintage player we all thought would be coming to Anfield.
He scored a brilliant solo goal against Norway in the buildup to the World Cup, and at the tournament in North America he has been one of the Blue and Yellow's best players. He has registered a competition leading three assists during the group stage along with scoring a goal for himself.
He's looked fresh, dangerous and eager to get forward and his effort to put himself in tantalizing positions will surely have Andoni Iraola excited to get him back to Anfield. He has been popping up all over the final third, with wide runs being mixed with inside channel slips and more.
Isak is reminding the world why Liverpool pushed so hard to acquire him.
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