Alexander Isak has not played for Liverpool for two months before of a broken leg.
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Sweden boss Graham Potter continues to remain hopeful he will have Alexander Isak back for next month’s World Cup play-offs.
The striker is still recovering from a broken leg he sustained in Liverpool’s 2-1 victory over Tottenham Hotspur two months ago. Isak suffered his blow when opening the scoring for the Reds before he was hurt by Spurs defender Micky van de Ven, who was trying to make a tackle.
Isak has had a frustrating start to his Liverpool career after being signed for a British record fee of £125 million from Newcastle United on summer transfer deadline day. He arrived well short of match fitness, having spent much of pre-season training alone, and subsequently picked up a groin issue.
Isak is making good progress from his broken leg, with Reds head coach Arne Slot revealing last week that the centre-forward is now running outside.
Sweden face Ukraine in a World Cup play-off semi-final next month. If they win that game, they will face either Poland or Albania for a place at the tournament. Potter, who recently took over as Sweden boss, is also sweating on Spurs’ Lucas Bergvall, while Dejan Kulusevski is set to be sidelined.
Speaking to Sportbladet, former Chelsea and West Ham head coach Potter said: "Right now, we're just keeping our fingers crossed and hopefully we can get some of those guys back. But if not, we have to find a solution with the guys that are available.”
Ahead of Liverpool’s 1-0 win over Nottingham Forest, Slot suggested that it would be unlikely Isak would be available for Sweden. The Reds have tentatively pencilled in a possible return to action for the end of March.
“I think we all know when the moment you go onto the pitch [that] it doesn’t take three months anymore,” said Slot. “But these final stages of rehab are also the ones that can make things change. So, in the gym you can hardly do too much and in this stage you constantly have to wait and see if you tick the next box, the next box, the next box… so, let’s not put a timescale on it, but it’s clear that he will be available, if things go as planned, this season.
“It will be somewhere around there and then it’s always the question if things go really well or if he gets a little bit of a setback. So, it will be around that period of time – end of March, start of April when he’s hopefully back with the group. When you’re back with the group it’s not to say that you are ready to play, let alone start, a game of football because, again, he’s been out for months and the last time he’s been out for months I think we could all see that it took him a while before he was the player we have signed from Newcastle.”