Arne Slot has handed Liverpool a timely fitness boost ahead of Saturday\u2019s clash with Newcastle United after confirming Jeremie Frimpong\u2019s injury is far less severe than first feared and will sideline him for only \u201ca few weeks\u201d, rather than months.<\/p>\n
Speaking at the AXA Training Centre with the January transfer window entering its final stages, the Liverpool head coach revealed that the Dutchman\u2019s setback is \u201cnot as bad as we thought\u201d, even though Frimpong will miss the Anfield encounter this weekend.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s not in the squad tomorrow, so he\u2019ll be out for a few weeks,\u201d Slot explained via Liverpool FC\u2019s YouTube channel. \u201cBut it\u2019s not as bad as we initially expected.\u201d<\/p>\n
Frimpong\u2019s absence still leaves Slot facing an immediate selection dilemma, with no natural right-back available against Newcastle. The Liverpool boss may again be forced to improvise, with Wataru Endo a strong candidate after filling several roles in recent weeks, while Dominik Szoboszlai is another possible solution.<\/p>\n
Slot updates on Konate, Jones, Gomez and Isak<\/p>\n
Slot also brought encouraging news on Ibrahima Konate, confirming the French defender has returned to training and is expected to be involved this weekend.<\/p>\n
\u201cIbou trained with us yesterday and today, and he\u2019ll be in the squad tomorrow,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Curtis Jones is also back in contention after recovering from illness. \u201cCurtis is available again,\u201d Slot confirmed.<\/p>\n
Joe Gomez, however, remains unavailable, although there is optimism his return is not too far away. \u201cJoe won\u2019t be available, but it shouldn\u2019t take much longer,\u201d Slot added.<\/p>\n
The update on Alexander Isak was far less positive, with the striker still some distance from a comeback. \u201cNo, he\u2019s not even on the pitch yet,\u201d Slot admitted. \u201cHe\u2019s just out of his walker, so it\u2019s going to take a while before he\u2019s back.\u201d<\/p>\n
Slot also touched on the delayed returns of Jayden Danns and Stefan Bajcetic, stressing the importance of patience after their repeated injury setbacks.<\/p>\n
Slot\u2019s stance as the transfer deadline nears<\/p>\n
As expected, questions also turned to transfers, and Slot reiterated Liverpool\u2019s cautious approach with the deadline approaching. The message remained consistent: the club will only act if the right opportunity presents itself.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf we think there\u2019s a player who can help us and it\u2019s possible, then we would do it,\u201d he said, stopping short of hinting at any late-window scramble.<\/p>\n
That stance feels particularly significant given Liverpool\u2019s domestic struggles, even as European form has offered encouragement. Slot will hope the momentum from the Qarabag win can now translate into a Premier League run that pulls the Reds back into the top-four conversation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Arne Slot has handed Liverpool a timely fitness boost ahead of Saturday\u2019s clash with Newcastle United after confirming Jeremie Frimpong\u2019s injury is far less severe than first feared and will sideline him for only \u201ca few weeks\u201d, rather than months. Speaking at the AXA Training Centre with the January transfer window entering its final stages, …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":58191,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-58190","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/eplbanter.com.ng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/EOTK-FeaturedHero-Image-Templates-1-20.jpg.webp","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/eplbanter.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58190","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/eplbanter.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/eplbanter.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eplbanter.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/18"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eplbanter.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=58190"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/eplbanter.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58190\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":58192,"href":"https:\/\/eplbanter.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58190\/revisions\/58192"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eplbanter.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/58191"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/eplbanter.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=58190"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eplbanter.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=58190"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eplbanter.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=58190"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}