Alexander Isak has been left out of Liverpool’s matchday squad at Burnley as Arne Slot prioritises the £125million British record transfer’s fitness over an immediate baptism.
The striker instead trained at the club’s AXA training ground this morning after a disrupted pre-season as he forced his exit from Newcastle United. Isak had played only 18 minutes since May 25, that substitute appearance coming for Sweden last Monday, having gone on strike at St James’ Park in July.
Slot, the Liverpool head coach, had warned not to expect the forward, whose move was finalised on transfer deadline day, to repeat “90 minutes” following his switch to Anfield.
Ultimately, he has decided Isak’s condition means he would be better served having a full session with staff at Liverpool’s training HQ rather than sitting on the substitutes’ bench at Turf Moor. The plan has been devised with a view to Isak featuring against Atletico Madrid on Wednesday when Liverpool begin their Champions League campaign.
Slot named an unchanged team at Burnley from the side which beat Arsenal 1-0 before the international break. Dominik Szoboszlai, who scored the winning goal with a stunning free kick, is in line to start at right back again.
When asked about Isak, the head coach told Sky Sports: “As everybody knew he didn’t have any team training at Newcastle and then went to the national team and played 15-20 minutes. We think with a week when we play three games in seven days this is the best build-up so he can face Atletico Madrid [on Wednesday].
Szoboszlai’s stunning free kick came during an excellent performance at right back against Arsenal
ALEX PANTLING/GETTY IMAGES
Asked about how long he expects it to take for Isak to get up to full fitness, Slot replied: “It’s always difficult to say. What I can say is normally in a pre-season after one or two weeks you play your first 45-60 minutes and you build that up gradually, but that you do with proper training sessions during the week.
“Now, we hardly have any proper training sessions with the team because we play three games in seven days.
“So, where would he be? Second or third week of pre-season, I would say, so able to hopefully play during the week 45 minutes or more, but then two days later, as you know, we play Everton again. It’s going to be interesting for the performance staff, for us, to get the best out of him at the start but also to keep him available for the end.”
Read Paul Joyce’s match report from Burnley v Liverpool on the Sunday Times website after the game.