How Slot needs to work around the pitfalls of Isak absence

SALAH RE-INTEGRATION, A CLOSE EYE ON EKITIKE - AND EVEN AN ELLIOTT RETURN COULD BE KEY TO NAVIGATING NEXT FEW MONTHS

- By PAUL GORST

F it wasn’t for bad luck, as the old saying goes, then Alexander Isak would have none at all.

The Liverpool striker is facing up to a significant amount of time on the sidelines with an MRI scan expected to confirm a broken leg for the £125m striker.

The issue occurred when the substitute raced on to Florian Wirtz’s pass to fire the Reds ahead in their 2-1 win over Tottenham Hotspur on Saturday evening.

Isak was caught by a scrambling Micky van de Ven and it was the forward's last act as he was forced off the field.

Scan results on Monday were expected to confirm a leg break and head coach Arne Slot will be in position to offer a more fulsome update when he speaks to the media on Tuesday to preview the visit from rock-bottom Wolves on December 27.

So, just how do Liverpool now plan for the second half of their season without their No.9 for at least a considerable portion of it?

Enter the market?

The obvious answer is for Liverpool to dip into the transfer market to bolster their forward line.

After a summer spend that, remarkably, veered close to the £450m mark, it’s almost unbecoming of Liverpool to talk about spending more.

Throwing money at a problem has not always been Liverpool's way of operating and even when the options have been ludicrously threadbare - the great centre-back shortage of 2020/21, for example - the Reds have not always been given the green light to try and eradicate the problem.

It's why there is no certainty that the champions will use the market to ease the burden on the shallow pool of front players who are fit and available to Slot.

Having said that, links to Antoine Semenyo of Bournemouth are not new and Liverpool have been keeping tabs on the Ghana international’s situation at the Vitality Stadium for some time.