Arne Slot explains Alexander Isak's role in Liverpool's Mohamed Salah replacement plan

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Arne Slot says getting the most from Alexander Isak will form part of the thinking when it comes to replacing Mohamed SalahArne Slot says maximizing the output of £125m Alexander Isak next season will form part of the thinking when recruiting Liverpool's replacement for Mohamed Salah this summer.Isak became the most expensive footballer in British history when the Reds completed the eye-watering deal with Newcastle on September 1 but the Sweden international has been hampered by fitness and injury issues in his debut campaign on Merseyside.After arriving unfit due to a lack of pre-season, owing to the acrimonious nature of his Newcastle exit, Isak then suffered a groin injury in October before breaking his leg on December 20, when he was caught by Micky van de Ven while opening the scoring in the 2-1 win.That issue sidelined Isak for nearly four months before he registered his first Premier League goal at Anfield in last week's 3-1 win over Crystal Palace.FOLLOW OUR LIVERPOOL FC FACEBOOK PAGE! All the latest news and analysis from Anfield on the Liverpool Echo's dedicated LFC Facebook pageSalah, the club's third-highest goalscorer of all time with 257, is set to leave at the end of the campaign and rather than look to replace the Egyptian's output in front of goal directly in the transfer market, Slot revealed that extracting the most from Isak next term will be a major consideration."[Getting the most from Isak] is definitely part of thinking about the [Salah] replacement," Slot said."Because since I have been here - and it is the same at a lot of clubs - it is mainly a left footer on the right and a right footer on the left."I have seen Alex scoring also a lot from crosses which were played from the right, right footed, Trent Alexander-Arnold crosses, if you want to call them like that."So that is definitely part of how we are looking at things, but we try to sign the best possible available player who we can afford."Something else which also happens at certain clubs is: ‘OK, that is the best player in the world in that position, let’s try and get him.’"That is not how we work, we try and sign the best possible player who is available for us."Salah will call time on a decorated Anfield career alongside Andy Robertson this month with the Reds losing two long-serving players who have been driving forces behind the success of recent years.Slot conceded Liverpool's "transition" into a new era will need to be complete in the upcoming summer window as the club get ready to wave off two legendary figures in Salah and Robertson.Slot added: "I think the transition hasn't been completed yet."And by that I mean this cycle, the players that won the Champions League and Premier League with Jurgen [Klopp], I think if you look now, might only be Virgil [van Dijk] and Joe [Gomez] contracted to the club."So, yeah, again this summer, as a minimum of two will leave, so you can say you are at the end of a transition, there's still a transition to be done."We know Hugo [Ekitike] will be out for a long, long time.

We haven't used Alex [Isak] this season hardly, so there is a lot to win and improve with this group of players we have now and next season."We all know the longer a team plays together, the better they get. That makes complete sense and this summer will see few changes again because Robbo and Mo are already leaving the club."