Alexander Isak speaks out following devastating leg break as Liverpool striker pledges to 'work hard' on road to recovery

Isak had to undergo surgery on his ankle and lower leg on Monday. His goal at Tottenham was only his second in the Premier League since his £125 million move to Liverpool from Newcastle at the end of the summer transfer window and he now faces a long wait to get on the scoresheet again with a couple of months of recovery ahead of him.

Taking to Instagram on Tuesday night, Isak posted an update on his story, thanking Liverpool fans for their well wishes in the days since the traumatic incident.

"Gutted to be out for a while. Time to recover and support from the sideline. I will work hard to be back as soon as I possibly can," Isak said.

"Thank you all reds and everyone else for the kind messages, it does not go unnoticed."

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It is estimated that Isak could miss around two months of action before being ready to return again. However, injury expert Ben Dinnery believes that Liverpool should look at easing the striker back into the fold, with full focus on his preparations for the 2026-27 season.

"With a fractured fibula, the extent of the injury will naturally depend on the severity," Dinnery told Casino Beats. "The standard time out for this kind of injury is usually six to eight weeks, but Isak's ankle problem and subsequent surgery has complicated that. The recovery process may involve setbacks - rarely do players have a clear and uninterrupted path back to full fitness in these circumstances.

"It felt like we were beginning to see Isak perform at similar levels to his Newcastle career, whereby he was approaching higher levels of fitness, having missed pre-season entirely.

"The harsh reality is, Isak will likely return towards the back end of the season, be given minutes to slowly bring him up to speed again, but the focus will be on having a really strong pre-season going into next year."

Liverpool boss Arne Slot said on Tuesday that Van de Ven's 'reckless' lunge on Isak was always likely to injure his opponent. "It was a reckless challenge. I've said a lot about the tackle of Xavi Simons, which for me was completely unintentional. I don't think you will ever get an injury out of a tackle like that," he bemoaned. "But the tackle of Van de Ven, if you make a tackle like that 10 times, 10 times there is a serious chance the player gets a serious injury."

However, Tottenham head coach Thomas Frank was defensive of Van de Ven, claiming it was the centre-back's natural instinct to try and make such a recovery challenge.

"I'm obviously disagreeing," Frank said of Slot's comments. "In many ways, I think we are talking about a defender in Micky van de Ven that will do everything he can to avoid the goal, so it's a transition.

"He's sprinting back in, this ball slides down the side, and he does everything he can to see if he can block that shot, so he's sliding. Unfortunately, Isak's planted his foot straight there, and that makes it look worse than it is. I think that would be a natural reaction for any defender.

"I'll put it this way: if my defender doesn't do that, then I don't think they are true defenders.

"He's a very fair and competitive player. That's one thing. The other thing, you also know that the two players have sorted it out, so that's a good sign of how they've sorted it out. A good sign."