Slot to ease Isak in at Liverpool, Guéhi collapse a ‘pity’
Liverpool manager Arne Slot has said that new signing Alexander Isak will be slowly integrated into the side after missing preseason and described Marc Guéhi’s failed deadline-day move from Crystal Palace as a “pity” for both the player and the club.
Guéhi looked set for a £35 million ($47.4m) move to Liverpool in the closing stages of the summer transfer window, with Palace accepting the bid and the 25-year-old granted permission to undergo a medical before the London club pulled out of the deal.
A deadline-day signing that was completed for Liverpool, however, was that of Isak, as he joined for a British record transfer fee of £125m, ending a bitter feud with Newcastle and a summer-long transfer saga.
Despite the price-tag and build up to his move to Anfield, Slot confirmed that the Sweden international would be brought into the side cautiously due to a lack of group training sessions over the summer.
“Don’t expect him [Isak] to be [playing] every single game 90 minutes on the pitch as that is definitely not going to happen in the upcoming weeks,” Slot said.
“He missed a proper preseason, I think he missed three or four months of team sessions, and so now we have to build him up gradually, with us playing so many games, hardly any trading time.
“So that’s going to be a challenge, but we’ve signed him not only for the upcoming two weeks, we’ve signed him for six years, so, yeah, this is what we have to keep in mind.
“And what the fans have to keep in mind, if they see that I take him off at a certain moment, or I only bring him in for a small amount of minutes, that’s all for the long-term fitness of the team.”
Slot confirmed that Liverpool were close to bolstering their back line with the addition of Guéhi and didn’t rule out his side going back into the market for him in January or next summer.
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“I think it would be a bit ridiculous if I’m going to deny that we were close to signing him [Guéhi]. That is so out in the open, that would be ridiculous,” Slot added.
“For me, we would have liked to sign him, of course, because we were in for him and he was, like I’ve said many times, if we can feel we can strengthen the team with a chance in the market, we never hesitate to do so, that’s what we try to do.
“It’s a pity, not only for us but also for the player, I think.
“But he’s in a good place, playing at Palace, where he won the Champions League and the FA Cup, he’s a very good manager as well, so let’s see what the future brings for him, of course.”