Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp has revealed that Thiago Alcantara will likely be ruled out of his plans until after the October international break, with the Spain international set to sit out key Premier League and Champions League games through injury.
The 30-year-old playmaker picked up a calf problem during the 3-0 victory over Crystal Palace and now finds himself stuck on the treatment table.
He will not be seen again any time soon, with a creative influence for the Reds due to miss domestic meetings with Brentford and Manchester City along with a European trip to Porto.
What has been said?
Klopp told reporters when asked for an update on a man snapped up from Bayern Munich in the summer of 2020: "It’s not 100 per cent clear when Thiago will be back.
"It’s a muscle in the calf issue, so after the international break probably – I don’t think there’s anything earlier possible. We will have to see."
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Who else is missing for Liverpool?
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Klopp has also confirmed that the foot problem suffered by Naby Keita in the Carabao Cup victory over Norwich is set to keep him on the sidelines.
He added on the Guinea international midfielder: "[It’s] nothing really serious, but it keeps him out of the next game for sure - and maybe a little bit longer, we have to see.
"It’s nothing serious but it’s obviously painful and we have to see how we can deal with it.
"Of course, it’s not cool when players have had a good pre-season, could play a lot of games and now are out. That happens throughout a season and hopefully when they come back then that’s it and they can play the rest of the reason, that would be extremely helpful."
Any other updates?
While Thiago and Keita will not figure in a trip to Brentford on Saturday, Trent Alexander-Arnold is back from illness, James Milner has shaken off a slight knock and Roberto Firmino - who has been absent since the end of August with a hamstring complaint - is back in training.
Klopp told Liverpool's official website: "Trent was not injured, Trent was a little bit ill. He’s back in training and will be fine.
"James was a similar thing to Trent, so he should be recovered. I saw him running around here, nobody told me differently – I assume he will be in training.
"Bobby trained already for two or three days, so he is back in contention, let me say it like this. We used him a little bit as a ‘joker’ [in training].
"But he will be in the normal training and then we have to make a decision if we take him with us or not. Porto, 100 per cent. Brentford, we have to see."
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