Jurgen Klopp provides update on star player’s fitness after 4-0 win over Hammers

Dejan Lovren missed Liverpool’s 4-0 opening day win in the Premier League and Jurgen Klopp provided an update on the injury of the Croatia international.

A release from the Liverpool website adds that the former Southampton man will miss a few games this season but his absence from the team will not be a long one.

Jurgen Klopp was open enough to claim that Lovren played with an injury last season:

“He is not fit. Let me say it like this, last year he already had a few problems with that but he could obviously play – and played really good.”

Klopp also added that the time for recovery was short last season and playing in the World Cup for 120 minutes in a game made it worse. However, the German expects Lovren to be ready in a few weeks.

“Now in the World Cup, [playing] three times [for] 120 minutes it got a bit worse, but I am pretty sure it will settle in the next one, two or three weeks. In that time he can probably for sure train already, but not the full programme, so that will then take time.

“In the end, it is serious but not that serious, so it’s not that we need to be afraid that it will take him until whenever. In the moment he is not available, that’s true.”

Liverpool played Joe Gomez and Virgil van Dijk in the heart of the defence in the 4-0 win over the Hammers. The Reds have a number of games in various cup competitions and we would need Lovren to be fit for the rest of the season.

Read more: “I am suffering a lot of pain” – Liverpool star reveals extent of his injury

The Croatian is our first choice partner for Van Dijk and the sooner he returns to the side, the less pressure there would be on the likes of Gomez to stay fit and healthy.