Arne Slot breaks silence on Alexander Isak transfer as Liverpool boss addresses record-breaking deal
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Arne Slot has spoken about Alexander Isak's signing for the first time since his deadline-day arrival from Newcastle United.
The Liverpool forward joined 12 days ago in a record-breaking deal worth $169million (£125M), but with the international breaking immediately following the conclusion of the summer window, Slot has not had the opportunity to comment on the news publicly before Friday's press conference.
But, speaking before the Burnley encounter, Slot said: "A lot of things happened on the last day, which is not always the case.
Isak trained with his new team-mates for the first time on Wednesday, but following a disrupted summer he is not yet up to full speed.
The 25-year-old only featured for 18 minutes across two fixtures during the recent international break.
Sweden head coach Jon Dahl Tomasson opted not to play Isak against Slovenia due to a lack of fitness, but came off the bench in the defeat to Kosovo.
With his fitness issue, Liverpool's new no.9 is not expected to start against Burnley on Sunday.
"I think the Swedish manager deserves a big compliment because he gets maybe the best striker in the world but understands that if he plays him for 90 minutes, he could be injured for multiple weeks," said Slot on Friday
Don’t expect him to be 90 minutes every week over the upcoming weeks
Now we have to build him up gradually with hardly any training time
That will be a challenge, but we have not signed him for the next few weeks, but for the next six years.
"I did feel all the way that we needed an extra attacking player and I’m so pleased we managed to get him."