Hugo Ekitike will return stronger after ‘devastating’ injury – Arne Slot

Arne Slot has backed Hugo Ekitike to return a stronger player after the “devastating” Achilles injury that has ruled him out long-term.

The Liverpool striker will miss the rest of this season and the World Cup with France, and could also be forced to sit out a substantial portion of the next campaign after rupturing his right Achilles tendon during Tuesday’s Champions League loss to Paris St Germain.

Reds boss Slot said: “He hasn’t been operated on yet. It is devastating for him, coming to a new club and having such an impact straight away.

“Your first thoughts are always with him, being out for such a long time and missing out on so many special moments.

“He is not the first and he will not be the last player who will experience something like this at the start of his career and there are so many examples of players that have come back even stronger.

“That’s the challenge he has now and I’m 100 per cent sure he will be one of those that in 10, 15 years’ time say ‘maybe this injury helped me to become even stronger and even more ready to perform even at a higher level than I did before’.”

The timing of Ekitike’s injury is awkward for Slot, with Alexander Isak only just returning from his own long-term lay-off.

The summer signing started his first match since December in Tuesday’s 2-0 loss but struggled to impact the game and was substituted at half-time.

Slot said: “First of all, it is a good thing we have signed two number nines, because there were a lot of people who were debating why we signed two number nines.

“We thought maybe it’s a smart idea not to be the only club in the world that has only one number nine. Now people are maybe questioning if we should sign another number nine.

“Someone said to me the day after