Hugo Ekitike has had surgery after he ruptured his Achilles tendon in his right leg against Paris Saint-Germain
Hugo Ekitike was injured against PSG (Photo by Xavier Laine/Getty Images)
Hugo Ekitike was injured against PSG (Photo by Xavier Laine/Getty Images)
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Arne Slot is convinced Hugo Ekitike will come back stronger than ever from his serious injury as the Liverpool striker prepares for "a long time" on the sidelines.
Ekitike underwent surgery earlier this week to repair the ruptured Achilles tendon in his right leg that he suffered during the Champions League defeat to former club Paris Saint-Germain at Anfield last week.
While no timescale has been set for his return, the 23-year-old - who is Liverpool's top scorer this season having arrived in a potential £79million deal from Eintracht Frankfurt last summer - is unlikely to be back in action until well into the next campaign.
And although Slot is hopeful the injury will not overly hamper the striker's natural game, he admits Ekitike faces a lengthy rehabilitation.
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"The surgery went well," said the Liverpool boss. "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 cannot 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.
"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!"
With Ekitike out, the onus will be on Alexander Isak to rediscover fitness and goalscoring form having been absent for much of the season through injury.
Isak started his second successive game in the 2-1 win over Everton and came through 72 minutes, the fourth-longest amount of time he has spent on the pitch since his British record £125million signing from Newcastle United in September.
The Sweden international is likely to keep his place for Saturday's Premier League visit of Crystal Palace, and will later this year feature for his country in the World Cup.
And asked if the tournament could benefit the player, Slot said: "It won’t hinder him. What would be the best scenario for him I cannot say, but a very good pre-season for us, six or seven weeks would be a good lead-up to the season.
"But if he has a good World Cup where it plays a lot of games that would be helpful. The tempo of games when they play for their countries is lower than Premier League or Champions League. But I am happy he is back.
"Now he is two weeks with us maybe. That is a lot of months without training time with the team in the middle of a season when everyone is top fit.
"That is not the easiest part to come back but we are seeing progress in the games we played and we are hoping the progress can continue. How fast he can have his best best level, I don’t know that, I cannot look at the future but I am hoping for us and himself, it is very soon."
Liverpool will be bolstered by the return of Joe Gomez after missing the derby, while Wataru Endo has made a step forward in his recovery from an ankle operation.
"Joe is back in the squad and that is really positive because last weekend, we had two centre-backs who were playing and none on the bench so it is really helpful Joe is back," said Slot.
"Wata is starting to go out, not with the team yet, do exercises outside with the rehab team. He is making steps but will not be available for next week against United or the week after but we are hoping and expecting him to be back at the end of the season."