Virgil van Dijk says Alexander Isak was "very good" on his Liverpool debut with the Dutchman revealing what he told the $169 million (£125 million) arrival before the 3-2 win over Atletico Madrid.
Isak started the game and played just under an hour before he was replaced by Hugo Ekitike. The Swedish forward impressed and made a concerted effort to press high and ensure he was leading from the front.
"Of course I [spoke to him]," Van Dijk told reporters at Anfield. "I said, 'Just do your thing and enjoy the whole thing and be important.' That is not obviously just with goals, but link-up play and pressing as well, and I think that was very good from him. It's just a start.
"He has to recover and be ready for Saturday. Whether he starts or not, he will have to be there and ready to help us as well."
Isak looked surprisingly sharp, and he got 58 minutes under his belt on his first competitive start in 115 days. Having missed the entirety of the summer, Liverpool will be careful with him — but there were promising signs.
"Although he only trained for two weeks, he has so many games under his belt that he is probably more able to be ready for 60," Arne Slot said.
"I was positively surprised how fit he was. But I wasn’t surprised by his quality, because that’s what we all know."
It remains to be seen how much of Saturday's Merseyside derby Isak will be involved in, but the early evidence points to it not taking that long for him to get up to speed.
Van Dijk celebrates after his winner for Liverpool against Atletico Madrid
Van Dijk celebrates after his winner for Liverpool against Atletico Madrid (Image: Getty Images)
While Isak has experience of playing in the Premier League before, other signings like Florian Wirtz, who showed more glimpses of what he can do, and Ekitike, who came off the bench in the second half, could get their first taste of facing Everton.
"Obviously you don't let them work it out for themselves," Van Dijk said. "They have a feeling for it but the manager will have meetings, we all speak about it in the next couple of days.
"It's a game to look forward to and I think everyone will do. They don't know yet but we will speak about it; I'm not worried.
"The guys who are here played in good stadiums, good games — not the Merseyside derby obviously — but I am confident they will be absolutely fine.
"The new guys need a bit of time, that's normal, but they all did well and we keep going."
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With five late winners from five games so far this season, Liverpool will be hoping not to need more heroics in the final minutes on Saturday. And the Everton match comes off the back of a tricky run of fixtures in quick succession.
"It is a challenge," Van Dijk added. "[Atletico Madrid] was another battle against a Diego Simeone team which worked their socks off and never gave up.
"Burnley were very good defensively and kept us out until the last minute of the game — that is playing at the highest level, these teams can make it difficult and Saturday will not be any different.
"Playing against Everton and we all know how difficult it is against them but everyone wants to be playing on this level and it's another game to look forward to."