Alexander Isak steps up Liverpool injury recovery as encouraging new photographs released

British transfer record £125m signing Alexander Isak has been absent since suffering a serious injury when scoring for Liverpool in their 2-1 win at Tottenham Hotspur in December

Alexander Isak stepped up his recovery from a broken leg with a gym session and some light ball work at Liverpool's AXA Training Centre on Friday. The £125m striker suffered the injury setback when he was caught by Tottenham Hotspur's Micky Van de Ven in a 2-1 win for the Reds in north London in December.

Isak opened the scoring on the day with an emphatic finish from Florian Wirtz's pass before he was caught by Van de Ven and forced off just 11 minutes after coming on as a half-time substitute.

The Sweden international underwent surgery to correct an ankle injury that included a fibula fracture and no timeframe has been placed on when he will be cleared for a comeback.

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However, Isak was pictured on official club channels on Friday afternoon working in the gym and undergoing some basic football drills inside the £50m training complex.

A date has still not been slated for the former Newcastle United man's return but the latest developments will be viewed as an encouraging sign as the Reds look to get the most expensive footballer in British football history back on the pitch as soon as possible.

It's been an injury-troubled campaign for Isak since he completed his record-breaking switch to Merseyside on September 1.

An acrimonious departure from Newcastle, which led to him effectively going on strike, meant he arrived at Anfield having had no pre-season programme to build up his fitness.

As a result, there was an acceptance at Liverpool that the opening weeks at his new club would mainly be focused around building up the endurance levels to a Premier League standard.

The Reds' new No.9 then didn't play for a month after a groin injury in the 5-1 win at Eintracht Frankfurt in October when he was withdrawn at half-time.

He has so far been restricted to just 10 Premier League appearances since his move to the defending champions on transfer deadline, and 14 in all competitions, scoring twice.

Speaking last month, Liverpool head coach Arne Slot said of Isak's recovery programme: “He’s not even on the pitch yet. He’s just out of his walker.

"So that tells you that he’s not on the pitch yet and not expected on the pitch today or tomorrow in terms of his recovery work. It’s going to take a while before he’s back – as we knew.”

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