Alexander Isak: Arne Slot sends clear message to fans over fitness before Liverpool debut | OneFootball

Reds’ £125million British record signing will hope to be involved against Burnley this weekend

Arne Slot has issued a new update on Alexander Isak’s fitness ahead of a potential debut for Liverpool this weekend.

He also did not play once during pre-season and had been training away from the first-team squad on Tyneside.

Slot has now looked to temper Liverpool supporters’ expectations with regards to Isak’s involvement in the coming weeks, insisting he will not be playing full matches for a little while and needs time to build up his fitness.

After facing newly-promoted Burnley, the reigning Premier League champions have a number of important matches coming up including their Champions League opener at home to Atletico Madrid next week and the first Merseyside derby of the season against Everton.

“First of all I think the Swedish manager, Jon Dahl Tomasson, deserves a big, big, big compliment because he gets one of the best, maybe the best striker in the world in and needs to play two very important games for his country, but understands if he would play him twice for 90 minutes the player would have probably been injured for multiple weeks,” Slot told reporters on Friday.

“That is not always easy for a manager, that he takes care of the interest of the player, so he deserves a big compliment for that and we will treat Alex the same as they did.

“So, don’t expect him every single game 90 minutes on the pitch – that’s definitely not going to happen in the upcoming weeks. He missed a proper pre-season, I think he missed three or four months of team sessions, so now we have to build him up gradually with us playing so many games and [having] very little training time.

Return to action: Isak got his first minutes of the season for Sweden against Kosovo on Monday night

REUTERS

“So, that’s going to be a challenge but we’ve signed him not only for the upcoming two weeks, we’ve signed him, I think, for six years so this is what we have to keep in mind and what the fans have to keep in mind if they see that I take him off at a certain moment or I only bring him in for a small amount of minutes. That’s all for the long-term fitness of the player.”

Slot dismissed the criticism aimed at Isak over the manner of his departure from Newcastle, insisting: “In football there is always criticism, sometimes people cheer for you.

“I think when he won the League Cup everyone was really happy with him and in other moments you get criticised. This is part of his life, my life, our jobs. Now he is a player for us and I am really happy with that.

"A lot of things happened on the last day (of the transfer window), which is not always the situation because last season we hardly did anything during the whole window. The thing that pleased me most is us getting the deal for Alex over the line.

"I am really happy Alex signed for us because I did feel all the way we needed an attacking player extra and so happy we could bring in the one we wanted.

"[Liverpool sporting director] Richard (Hughes), the ownership, everyone worked so hard to get the deal done, so it is very good for the club, for the fans, the players, for me that all the work they put in resulted in Alex signing for us."

Asked about his first impressions of Isak, Slot replied: “Maybe people don’t believe me if I give you this answer but I haven’t spoken to him that much.

“So, I spoke to him after he signed by phone because he had to go to the national team and the way I, 99 out of 100 times, treat my players during international breaks is I leave them for the manager they are working with over there.

“So, I texted him now maybe once or twice because he is new to us [and] I wanted to know how he did. But I do have to get to know him as a person much better in the upcoming days and weeks.

“But although we find it very important how someone is because we have such a great culture here at this club, we mainly sign a player also for his qualities and therefore I don’t need to call them.

“We faced him a few times, I faced him a few times, and I know what a quality player he is.”