Alexander Isak returns! Arne Slot reveals which fixture £125m Liverpool striker will be available for after injury

Isak closing in on competitive comeback

Slot has confirmed that Isak is scheduled to be available for Liverpool’s Champions League quarter-final first leg against PSG on April 8. The £125m striker has been sidelined since late December with a fractured leg and has yet to resume full team training.

Slot manages expectations over match fitness

While the 26-year-old will not be fit enough to start at Parc des Princes, his presence on the bench offers a significant tactical lift. The former Newcastle man missed a large portion of the season's middle third, but his recovery timeline suggests he will play a pivotal role in the final stretch of the campaign.

"He will be available," Slot told reporters ahead of the trip to Brighton. "The question is what you mean by ‘ready’. If you want to have the player who played exactly a year ago against us in the Carabao Cup final, and was too good for us on that day, then I would tell you I have my doubts about that after months out. But I expect I can use him for minutes."

The Dutchman emphasized that the recovery process cannot be rushed, noting: "Exactly what I get from that I cannot tell you because he hasn’t trained with the team even once. You don’t after one training session play 45 minutes or 90 minutes.

"If we wanted to arrange a game it would have to be three-v-three because we only have Federico [Chiesa], Curtis [Jones] and Joe [Gomez] available [the rest of the first-team squad are in recovery after Galatasaray]. We have the under-21s team but Alex is not yet ready to play in the international break. If he would have been, he would have been with Sweden."

Firepower needed for the final charge

Slot believes Isak’s return could be the catalyst for a strong finish, despite the striker needing time to rediscover his clinical edge. Liverpool have dominated many games this season without clinical results, and the coach is eager to reintegrate one of the world's most expensive forwards.

"I am just as excited as the fans to have him back because it is fair to say that in 90% of our games we’ve had more chances than the other team,” he added. "If we had one of the best strikers in the world playing then that would have usually meant that we would have had more points."

What comes next?

While Isak continues his recovery and prepares for his return to action, Liverpool will face Brighton in the Premier League on Saturday. The Reds currently sit fifth in the table with 49 points from 30 matches, six points behind third-placed Manchester United, who have played a game more.