Every word from Arne Slot on Hugo Ekitike injury, Alexander Isak and transfer plans

The Liverpool head coach fielded questions from reporters at the AXA Training Centre on Friday as he prepares for his first trip to Everton's Hill Dickinson Stadium

Arne Slot spoke to the media ahead of this weekend's Premier League clash against Everton(Image: Getty Images)

Arne Slot spoke to the media on Friday ahead of this weekend’s Merseyside derby.

Unsurprisingly, as Liverpool heads to Everton’s swanky new Hill Dickinson Stadium for the first time, the Reds boss was asked what impact that will have on the Premier League clash, while he was also questioned about the season-ending injury Hugo Ekitike suffered on Tuesday against Paris Saint-Germain.

Slot also provided updates on the fitness of Alexander Isak and Joe Gomez, discussed the club’s summer transfer plans and the race for the Champions League places. Here’s what he had to say ahead of this weekend’s trip to Everton.

Ekitike news: "Devastating for him, coming to a new club, having so much impact straight away, playing against your former club in the quarter-finals of the Champions League, with so much more to come for him in the summer. Your first thoughts always for him, being out for such a long time, missing so many special moments.

"But he is not the first and won’t be the last that will experience something like this at the start of his career, and there are so many examples of players who come even stronger, and that is the challenge for him. I am 100 percent sure he will be one of those that in 10-15 years he will say his injury made him become stronger and become more ready to perform at a higher level that he did before."

Transfer plans: "This team has already shown, as they did in so many other moments, that they can compete with the best in Europe. We beat three other quarter-finalists, with Atletico, Real Madrid and Arsenal; that tells you that this is already a very strong team.

"It takes some changes with Robbo [Andy Robertson] and Mo [Salah] leaving but as I said many times, the future looks very bright for us. I am not thinking in numbers [in terms of new players]. [I'm thinking in terms of] areas and which players we already know who are going to leave, and let's see what happens in the summer. You know we are a trading club, so let's first see what is actually going to happen."

Slot was guarded when asked about transfer plans(Image: Getty Images)

First Merseyside derby at Hill Dickinson Stadium: “It is always a very special game, doesn’t matter if it is the 60th being played in the stadium, but if it is the last one being played in a stadium or a first one makes it even more special, if that’s even possible. Of course, they are in a very good place at the moment. It is always special, but maybe you can add one or two percent to it because it’s the first season. It will always be a very special game for them, but also for us."

Motivation to secure top-five finish: "That is what I said, five, six, seven weeks ago. That is always the aim. We didn’t want to lose against Man City away or Paris Saint-Germain. That is always the aim if you go into games, you never want to slip up, you want to perform in the best way possible."

Response from players: "Yeah, but they have showed a lot of character against Paris Saint-Germain as well because being the better team against Paris Saint-Germain is very complicated, let alone if you have to play three games in seven days and you face an opponent that only had to play two. They were very well rested and if I saw that a lot of my players broke records in terms of physical output. That tells you how strong and ready they are and it won’t be different for the game on Sunday."

Expectation at new ground: "The crowd didn’t affect me last season, the referee decisions affected me. I don’t know because last season was my first Merseyside derby in that stadium, so if we played in the same stadium I would probably know what to expect. But I don’t think a stadium is loud, it is usually fans that are loud. How much of a difference it will be, I will tell you after the weekend. I think their fans will be loud, as our fans will be as well. It is not the stadium that makes the difference, usually it is the players that make the difference and the fans can have an impact to help the players, that is for sure."

Isak ready? "First of all, it is a good thing we have signed two no 9s because there were a lot of people debating why we signed two no.9s. We thought it might be a smart idea to not be the only club in the world that has only one no.9, but has two. Now, all of a sudden, that looks maybe quite good. Maybe people are now questioning whether in the summer we should sign another no.9.

"Someone said to me the day after [PSG] you cannot write the script that on the day Alex is back after four months the other one leaves the pitch with a long-term injury but it is a good thing Alex is back now even more, although it wouldn’t be the first game I have to play without a particular type in a particular position. I have had many games this season where I didn’t have a right full-back available, for example. It is nice to have Alex back, but we also know he is not ready to play 90 yet."

Alexander Isak will not be fit to play 90 minutes on Sunday(Image: Getty Images)

Difficult to sell players? "Last summer, we made quite a lot of signings and that's why we traded that much. In four windows since I am here, we had a net spend of £150 million ($203 million), I think. That says what kind of club we are. We know we are changing at least two players, but Kostas [Tsimikas] is coming back.

"The first aim is to see how we are acting in the position of Mo, whether we want to replace him with a similar player or do that differently. For the rest, at this moment of time, there's not a chance of a lot of players leaving. Of course, there is the Ibou [Konate] contract situation."

Fatigue a concern? "I don’t think it can affect that because there are more than a few days in between. It didn’t even affect us for the Fulham game, it affected us by being as intense as we were against Paris Saint-Germain. I have to factor the Anfield factor in. There might be people [who say] why didn’t you play like this away from home but it’s more complicated than you might think. The fans play a big part in it because we took the same risk and could keep them away from our goal in large parts of the game. Being tired has no influence on the game.

"Importance of getting Isak back to full fitness: Very important, although there are also other players that can fill in that position. Those players have played in different positions throughout their lives. Cody [Gakpo] did really well when he came in in the second half [against PSG]. Of course it is important, but you don’t get it like that.

"The best thing was that Hugo was still fit, but if he wasn’t, two or three weeks later would have been better because Alex is not ready for 90 yet - depending on the intensity of the game because you never know how a game is going to pan out. He is getting closer and closer. Now, we need him, but there are different options to play as a no.9, as well. Federico Chiesa is one of them. There are different options but it is definitely good to have Alex back now that Hugo is injured."

Joe Gomez is not fit to play in this weekend's Merseyside derby(Image: Getty Images)

Is Gomez available? "No."

Only playing once a week now: "I think we have seen this season a lot of good performances but also a lot of inconsistency in the performance, in my opinion, mainly due the amount of games with almost the same players, If you look at the 15, 20, 25 players with the most minutes this season, a lot of them are from us. That tells you a lot and one of the reasons why we have been a bit inconsistent, maybe why we have conceded so many late goals because it is always the same players.

"The last game, I had to bring Joe in and bring him out, there were three players playing in the right full-back position again as it has so many times this season. It is definitely helpful most of our players except long-term injuries are available and they only play once a week because it has shown a large part of our group are ready to play every three days, that;’s whyso many are in the top 25 of minutes but it has also shown not all of them are able to play 90 minutes every three days; either they are injured or their performance drops. Maybe from that perspective, it is a good thing we are not in Europe anymore but I would definitely prefer to play in Europe because that also given an energy to the group if you go to the semi-final of the Champions League. I don’t see it as a positive thing, we are out but it is the reality and we have a bit more training time now.

Jayden Danns availablity: "The good thing for him is that he's been out for such a long time and he's now getting back with the Under-21s, getting some playing time. But I think there's still a lot of steps to be made if you've not even played 90 minutes [for] the U21s, let alone then play a Premier League game.

"But the first thing that comes to my mind is that he's worked so hard – I know this because I've seen him around over here a lot – to be where he is now and he's also been so unlucky to be out for such a long time. I really like him to be back but the reality is that he's not on the bench for us this weekend."