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Arne Slot discussed the recovery of Hugo Ekitike after the Liverpool striker had surgery earlier this week.
The striker underwent the knife earlier this week after rupturing his Achilles in a Champions League defeat at the hands of Paris Saint-Germain. Ekitike will miss this summer’s World Cup with France and is expected to be unavailable for the opening few months of Liverpool’s 2026-27 campaign.
Ekitike, who has scored 17 goals since being signed from Eintracht Frankfurt for £79 million last summer, is the Reds’ latest long-term casualty this campaign. Alexander Isak recently recovered from a broken leg while Giovanni Leoni and Conor Bradley (both knee) will miss the rest of the campaign. In addition, Wataru Endo has been unavailable for more than two months because of an ankle problem.
But Slot is hoping that Ekitike can come back stronger from his setback and use the time away from the pitch to his advantage - as 19-year-old defender Leoni has done to develop his physique.
The Liverpool head coach said: “The surgery went well. That is the first and important step he had to make. In such a long rehab process, there are so many crucial steps to be made before you can say it is going to take that amount of months or that amount of months. It is going to take a long time, everyone can not really call the surgeon and ask him how long it is going to take, they will tell you multiple months. Then it all depends on how rehab goes. He is a very explosive player, that is usually not helpful if you have this injury but maybe he is the exception to this.
“We don’t know yet but the first and most important step is that surgery went well and he can now work on his recovery, which is going to take a long time. But he will be back stronger, as all the others who have been injured for such a long time. Giovanni Leoni, I don’t know if you want to know but I have seen some Instagram posts from the club - this guy becomes a beast.”
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