Muscle injury due to overuse
©IMAGO
Liverpool FC will have to do without Hugo Ekitiké for the time being. The French center forward, who was signed from Eintracht Frankfurt for 95 million euros in the summer, is out with a muscle injury. Coach Arne Slot confirmed the loss before the Premier League game at Fulham FC – citing a lack of fitness as the reason.
“Alexander Isak has been out for a few weeks now. This has meant that Hugo has had more playing time than during the entire previous season. As a result, he suffered a slight thigh injury because we had to let him play longer and longer,” said Slot. Record purchase Isak, brought in from Newcastle United for 145 million euros, was seriously injured in the 2-1 win against Tottenham on December 20th. Since then, Liverpool have had two games in which Ekitiké was on the field for 86 and 90 minutes. He had also been in the starting line-up in the four previous games, but before that he was not in three of the four matches.
“It was a bit too much for a player of his age who is not yet fully used to the Premier League. That’s why he won’t be able to play today, but hopefully he will be fit for the game against Arsenal, although that is not certain yet,” explained Slot.