Liverpool manager Arne Slot has described new signing Alexander Isak as “maybe the best striker in the world” but warned that the Sweden international will be eased into action following a disrupted pre-season.
The Premier League champions sealed a British-record £125 million ($169 million) deal for the forward from Newcastle on transfer deadline day, part of a summer spending spree that exceeded £400 million. A late move to sign Crystal Palace and England defender Marc Guehi, however, fell through.
“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,” Slot said on Friday.
“But the thing that pleases me most, of course, is us getting the deal for Alex over the line.”
Isak, 25, missed a full pre-season due to fitness issues and has not yet played club football this campaign. He featured sparingly for Sweden during the international break, coming off the bench against Slovenia and Kosovo in World Cup qualifying.
Slot praised Sweden coach Jon Dahl Tomasson for carefully managing Isak’s workload:
“He gets one of the best, maybe the best striker in the world, and needs to play two very important games for his country, but understands that if he would play him twice for 90 minutes, then probably the player would have been injured. And that’s not always easy for a manager.”
The Dutchman confirmed Liverpool would take the same gradual approach.
“Don’t expect him to be every single game 90 minutes on the pitch,” he said. “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, hardly any training time.”
Isak criticism brushed aside
Slot also dismissed criticism of Isak after the striker pushed for a move away from Newcastle, where he still had three years left on his contract.
“Sometimes people cheer for you… and in other moments you get criticised — this is part of his life, my life, our jobs. Now he’s a player for us and I’m really happy with that.”
Guehi deal collapse
On the failed deadline-day pursuit of Guehi, Slot admitted Liverpool came close to completing the transfer but said he was satisfied with his defensive options.
“I think it would be a bit ridiculous if I’m going to deny that we were close to signing him. That’s so out in the open, that would be ridiculous,” he said.
“These things happen in football… But he’s in a good place playing at Palace, with a very good manager as well. So let’s see what the future brings for him and for us.”
Liverpool, who are chasing a record 21st English league title, face Burnley on Sunday having won all three of their opening Premier League matches this season.
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