Although Isak is certain to miss that game, and several more games in early 2026, Slot is confident that the player will return before the end of the season. When asked if Isak needed support, as his problems escalated, and whether he still had a role to play this season, he said: “Yeah, that’s the last thing I need. And first of all, it’s been a very challenging and difficult period for him, I think.”
“You join a new club and usually when you join a new club you, and of course he, are very excited and want to immediately show all the qualities you have, but that is absolutely impossible.
“Maybe no one understands, but if you haven’t trained for three or four months seriously with the team and you play in this league… in this league you have to be at the top of your form to have an impact in a football game. It takes, as we all know, months before we can get it there because there is no pre-season, just games, games, games.”
“We barely had time to train, so we always knew that it would take time for him and that’s why he’s very unlucky to be injured now, as I think we all saw with his goal against West Ham, with this goal [melawan Tottenham]that he is getting closer to the player he was at Newcastle.”
