Alexander Isak targeting Liverpool return next month

“Alex has been on the pitch, not with his football boots but with his running shoes for the first time this week,” Slot said.

“It’s nice for him to go on the pitch, it’s nice for us to see him here because there is still enough work to be done.

“The next step is doing work with the ball, which every player likes most. Then the next step is to come into the group and then it takes a while before you’re ready to play. But it’s nice that rehab goes well; that’s a compliment to him and our medical staff.

“I think we all know the moment you go onto the pitch it doesn’t take three months any more, but these final stages of rehab can also make things change. In the gym you can hardly do too much, but at this stage you constantly have to tick the next box and the next box.

“Let’s not put a timescale on it, but it is clear that he will be available — if things go as planned — this season.”

Slot is mindful that Sweden coach Graham Potter will be monitoring Isak’s rehabilitation given the importance of the play-off on March 26. There are five weeks before that game and Slot said: “Are you asking this for the Swedish national team coach?

“It will be somewhere around there and then it’s always a question if things go really well, or he gets a bit of a setback. It will be around that period of time; end of March, start of April, where he is hopefully back with the group.

“When you are back with the group that is not to say you are ready to play, let alone start a game a game of football, because again he’s been out for months and the last time he was out for months we could all see it took him a while before he was the player who we signed from Newcastle.”

Isak’s adaptation following his move from St James’ Park in September was far from seamless after he trained on his own during the summer in an attempt to force his exit. A groin injury then interrupted his progress and the timing of his latest injury came after he had opened his Premier League account for Liverpool and scored two goals in five appearances.

“Unfortuntely for him and us, we haven’t used the best Alex yet, but this club and our fans will hopefully see the best Alex this season but, for sure, in the upcoming years,” Slot added.

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