Alexander Isak is set to return to full training with Liverpool on Thursday for the first time this year.
It is a huge boost for boss Arne Slot ahead of a crucial month where the Reds travel to Manchester City in the FA Cup on Saturday then contest a two-legged Champions League quarter-final against Paris Saint-Germain.
Isak has been absent since fracturing his fibula in the win over Tottenham just before Christmas but has now been given the green light to step up his recovery.
Though Liverpool and Slot will go easy in Isak’s recovery – his return will likely be phased with cameos off the bench to start – it provides a huge help for the team who also have work to do to confirm their Champions League spot for next season. They are currently fifth.
Isak joined from Newcastle for £125million in a British record fee but he has scored just three goals in 16 appearances in a first season plagued by fitness issues, largely down to not training for many months to force through his move to Merseyside.
Slot is not expecting Isak to be 100 per cent at his best fitness-wise in the final weeks of the domestic season but the 26-year-old will also have one eye on the World Cup after Graham Potter’s Sweden beat Poland in a play-off this week to qualify.
Liverpool will be without Alisson for the trip to the Etihad Stadium on Saturday but Mohamed Salah should be OK after skipping the last match with a groin problem. Right back Jeremie Frimpong suffered an injury for the Netherlands this week and is a doubt.
Salah will start the long farewell tour and Slot told liverpoolfc.com on Wednesday: ‘Hopefully he can make his legacy even more special in the upcoming weeks and months where we still play for something special.
‘But he will always leave this club as a legend. Scoring goals, having his assists. As a fan I watched him, and that front three with Sadio Mane and Bobby Firmino — everybody is still talking about that, and rightly so.’
