Arne Slot says Alexander Isak will be fit in time for Liverpool’s Champions League quarter-final against Paris Saint-Germain next month.
However, Slot urged patience, with the £125m striker still working his way back from a broken leg suffered against Tottenham Hotspur in December following a challenge from Micky van de Ven.
Alexander Isak has resumed light training but will miss international duty as he completes rehabilitation. He has not yet returned to full team training at the AXA Training Centre, though a behind-closed-doors friendly is being considered.
Slot added that while Isak’s return is close, he may not reach peak form until next season after a full pre-season.
“Alex will available [for PSG], yes,” Slot confirmed on Friday in the embargoed section of his press conference. “The question is what you mean around ‘being ready’.
“If you want to have the player who played exactly a year ago against us in the Carabao Cup final – and was too good for us on that day – then I would tell you I have my doubts about that after seven or eight months out.
“But I expect that I can use him [Alexander Isak] for minutes. Exactly what I get from that I cannot tell you because he hasn’t trained with the team even once.
“He still is not able to train with the team and he hasn’t been able to train with the team and usual rehab is before you start to train with the team and then you play games. You don’t, after one training session, play 45 minutes or 90 minutes.
“If we want to play a game [during the international break], we will have to ask if three-versus-three is possible. We have the Under-21s team but Alex is not yet ready to play in the international break. If he would have been, he would have been with Sweden.
“It is 100% sure fans will see the best of him next season and we are trying to make sure that we will see close to the best or the best of him this season.
“I am just as excited as the fans to have him [Alexander Isak] back because I think it is fair to say that 90% of our games, we’ve had more chances than the other team, so if we had one of the best strikers in the world playing for you then that would have usually, usually, meant that you would have had more points.
“So that everyone is excited, apart from the fact that he was so good at Newcastle, I can understand it. I don’t want to downgrade it too much because I think he can have an impact when he is back [this season].
“But if you tell me it is more realistic to expect that next season from him than against Man City or PSG – I don’t think he is available for Man City (FA Cup quarter-final on April 4) by the way – but we will use him in the upcoming two months. That is for sure.”
Slot added: “Alexander Isak returning for an under-21s game is a question I cannot answer now but that is a question that goes through your mind. Not only with Alex but also with other players in the past.
“We can always arrange a friendly and if we think it is necessary for him to play a game then we would definitely do that but if it was so simple that we play him in one game and then he is the player from the final last season again then that would be nice.
“But we also have pre-season and maybe he can also do one week there and say ‘okay, let’s start to play’. So maybe a normal player, after they can run again, has a six-week lead-up to the season, sometimes even seven. So yeah, they don’t usually play at their best in the first game of pre-season,” Slot concluded on Alexander Isak.
Read more: Alisson Becker withdraws from Brazil squad; set to miss Liverpool’s clash against Brighton
Italy officially call up Federico Chiesa for FIFA World Cup 2026 playoffs
Arne Slot admits to being surprised by query on his Liverpool contract situation
