Alexander Isak has been sidelined by injury since December, when he suffered a fractured tibia in Liverpool's Premier League win against Tottenham Hotspur at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
Liverpool suffered a spate of injuries over the festive period and Isak's occurred 15 minutes after he replaced injured teammate Conor Bradley in the Reds' 2-1 win in north London, in which the Swedish striker scored the opening goal.
Isak has missed the last 13 Premier League fixtures, most recently the return game against Spurs at Anfield, but a return to action is imminent.
Will Alexander Isak play against Galatasaray?
Liverpool's next league fixture will be against Brighton & Hove Albion on Saturday lunchtime, with the battle for Champions League places starting to ramp up as we reach the last couple of months of the season.
Isak, who was ranked at no.2 in FourFourTwo's list of the best Premier League players of last season, has returned to training but will sit out Wednesday's Champions League round of 16 second leg against Galatasaray and the weekend trip to Sussex.
The latest information from Liverpool boss Arne Slot is that this week's fixtures have come too soon for the 26-year-old, who joined Liverpool from Newcastle United in a big-money transfer last summer.
"Alex is not available for Galatasaray," Slot told reporters on Tuesday. "He will not be available for Saturday [against Brighton] as well. As long as you don’t train with the team yet you are not ready to play."
"But the fact that you see him on the pitch tells you he gets closer and closer to joining us again."
Isak has only started six Premier League matches in his first season as a Liverpool player, appearing in 10 league fixtures overall and scoring twice.
He's coming to the end of his longest injury lay-off by far, though his time at St James' Park was also interrupted by various injury issues.
Slot will be eager to bring Isak back into the fold. Liverpool are struggling to put games away and their form is suffering as a result, which has led in turn to Slot's own position coming under scrutiny less than a year after delivering the Premier League title.
The Reds are pushing for a Champions League place and will still be involved in this year's tournament if they can secure a win against Galatasaray at Anfield.
The Istanbul giants won the first leg 1-0 last week. Mario Lemina's goal ensured that the home leg would be a night of jeopardy for Slot, whose team also have a second shot at silverware in the form of the FA Cup.
