Hugo Ekitike sends message to Alexander Isak after Liverpool worst fears confirmed
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Liverpool Echo IconSportFootballLiverpool FCLiverpool confirmed on Monday night that Alexander Isak fractured his ankle during Saturday’s victory over Tottenham and has undergone surgeryHugo Ekitike has told Alexander Isak to "stay strong" as the Liverpool forward prepares for a spell on the sidelines. Isak will be out for a "couple of months" after undergoing an operation on Monday afternoon after sustaining a broken leg in the 2-1 win over Tottenham Hotspur on Saturday.The striker was hurt in a challenge from Micky van de Ven in the act of scoring his side's opening goal of the game.
Isak had to be helped from the field of play by two members of the Liverpool medical team and an MRI scan showed he sustained damage to his ankle and a fractured fibula.And taking to Instagram, Ekitike shared a picture of himself playing alongside Isak, captioning it with the message: "Stay strong brother. Speedy recovery inshallah."READ MORE: Jamie Carragher defends Micky van de Ven for Alexander Isak challenge as Liverpool boss hits outREAD MORE: Germany chief reveals Florian Wirtz admission about Liverpool transfer - 'He certainly thought'Speaking on Tuesday morning, Reds boss Arne Slot has criticised Van de Ven for the 'reckless challenge' he made on Isak.
He said: "It's going to be a long injury, for a couple of months."It's a big disappointment for him and, as a result, for us. But the tackle of Van de Ven, if you make a tackle like that 10 times, 10 times there is a serious chance the player gets a serious injury."Isak has made 16 appearances since his £125million British-record move from Newcastle on deadline day, and Slot admitted: "It's been a really challenging and difficult period for him."Usually when you join a new club - he was very excited as well - you want to show all the qualities you have but that was simply impossible."Maybe no-one understands but if you haven't trained on a serious level for three or four months with the team and you are playing in this league you have to be on top of your game to impact a game of football."That took - which we all knew - months because there was no pre-season, just games, games, games and hardly any time to train."We all knew it would take him time and that's why he is so unlucky he is now injured because we all saw with his goal against West Ham and with this goal [against Tottenham] he gets closer and closer to the player he was last season at Newcastle."Liverpool return to Premier League action on Saturday when they welcome Wolverhampton Wanderers to Anfield.