Arne Slot confirmed Alexander Isak is in contention to make his Liverpool debut against Burnley this weekend.
The champions completed the signing of the former Newcastle centre forward on transfer deadline day for a British record transfer fee of £130million.
Having effectively gone on strike in the summer to help facilitate his dream move, Isak is short of match fitness and only appeared fleetingly for Sweden during the international break.
Liverpool have made a flawless start to the new campaign with three wins from three games, including a victory against title rivals Arsenal at Anfield prior to the international break.
With fellow new recruit Hugo Ekitike having made a blistering start to his own Liverpool career there is little need to rush Isak into the starting XI until he is truly ready.
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Liverpool fans, however, are desperate to see their new No.9 in action as soon as possible and they are likely to get their wish tomorrow with the Reds back in action at Turf Moor.
‘First of all the Sweden manager John Dahl Tomasson deserves a big, big, big compliment because he gets one of the best strikers in the world in,’ said Slot in his pre-match press conference.
‘He has two very important games but understands if he plays him twice for 90 minutes the player would probably get injured.
‘That’s not always easy for a manager that he takes care of the interest of the player. We will treat Alex the same as they did.
‘Don’t expect him to be every single game 90 minutes on the pitch. He missed a proper pre-season and missed three or four months of team sessions. We have to build him up gradually.
‘That’s going to be a challenge but we’ve signed him not just for the upcoming two weeks we’ve signed him for six years, this is what we have to keep in mind.’
More to follow…
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