Liverpool are set to be without Luis Diaz until March with their star winger set to undergo surgery on a knee injury.
The Colombia international has been out since October after he was injured in a challenge with Arsenal’s Thomas Partey.
Jurgen Klopp had been hopeful that the former Porto star would be ready to make his comeback ahead of the Premier League resumption later this month.
Diaz flew to Dubai with the rest of Liverpool’s first team players not in action at the World Cup for a warm weather training camp.
The 25-year-old is understood to have felt discomfort during a session on Thursday and returned home to England.
Speaking to Liverpoolfc.com, Jurgen Klopp said: ‘It’s all good [fitness-wise] with the boys who are here.
‘What’s not good is we have to see with Lucho. He felt something and we need to have further assessment there, but apart from that they all look really, really good.’
According to Colombian journalist Pipe Sierra, the former Porto star will now face an operation and is unlikely to be available for at least three months.
Liverpool are set to face the likes of AC Milan and Lyon in the Dubai Super Cup and Klopp is hoping to use the time away to further solidify the team spirit that was in evidence prior to the break as Liverpool clawed their way back up the table.
‘Because we have so many young players with us as well, it’s very important to bring them closer,’ he said.
‘Ben Doak looks really promising, now he’s here with us. So all these kind of things are really interesting. Bobby Clark, really interesting player, obviously here with us – like the others as well. But they showed already, ‘OK, looks good, have them here. Then all the other boys, have them here, it’s very important.’
‘A training camp always has to be used for togetherness. It would be silly if we just go here and then you train and go in the room and go for food and go in the room again.
‘That makes no sense because the main strength you get over the years [is] from your bond, from togetherness, from how much you want to do it for each other – and that’s what we use here as well, that’s clear.
‘You cannot just go on the training pitch six hours a day and say, ‘That’s it, let’s start playing football.’ We need to find reasons why this makes more sense for us to win than for others, and that always happens not [only] on the training pitch but very much off the pitch.’
MORE : Liverpool enter race for France World Cup star but must battle Tottenham
MORE : Arsenal, Chelsea and Liverpool stars snubbed as Ramires names Brazil’s best Premier League player
For more stories like this, check our sport page.
Follow Metro Sport for the latest news on
Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
No comments:
Post a Comment