Liverpool manager Andoni Iraola says there is hope that Hugo Ekitik\u00e9 can return to action by the end of January 2027, despite the forward still being some way from full fitness.<\/p>\n
His inclusion in Liverpool\u2019s Champions League roster for the league phase raised eyebrows, especially with Federico Chiesa and Wataru End\u014d left out, but Iraola explained that the decision was made with the medical department after assessing the squad list for Europe.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think it\u2019s difficult with these long-term injuries, I think he\u2019s still far [away],\u201d Iraola revealed.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut we had a meeting with the medical department to analyze when we completed the [squad] list for the European games. There is a reasonable chance that he could help us in the last two games of the group stages.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut it\u2019s still very early to say. It\u2019s very early because it\u2019s a long-term injury [and] a big part of the rehab [he] is still to meet. But if we decide to put him there, it is because there is a hope and there is a realistic chance that he could help us in January.\u201d<\/p>\n
The issue of how to fit Ekitik\u00e9 and Alexander Isak into the same side has been discussed for more than a year. Liverpool had already spent $106 million (\u00a379 million) on Ekitik\u00e9 when Isak became the most expensive player in Premier League history.<\/p>\n
Former boss Arne Slot was left to solve the problem, although Isak\u2019s early fitness issues and later leg break meant the pair only shared the pitch for 186 minutes across eight appearances.<\/p>\n
When Ekitik\u00e9 does return, he is expected to be eased back as Isak\u2019s deputy. Even so, once fully fit, the 24-year-old is unlikely to be content with a backup role for long.<\/p>\n
Slot also suggested another route, saying Ekitik\u00e9 could operate as a winger alongside Isak. The Frenchman made one appearance on the right side of Liverpool\u2019s attack last season.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Iraola says Ekitik\u00e9 could return by January 2027, after a surprise Champions League squad call.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":19343,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1647,175],"tags":[1047,242,180],"class_list":["post-19344","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-champions-league","category-liverpool","tag-champions-league","tag-injury","tag-player-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19344","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19344"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19344\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/19343"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19344"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19344"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19344"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}