Squad Update: Liverpool players’ availability and fitness going into the international break

Liverpool injury updates and availability ahead of the upcoming international break

Liverpool have been troubled with injury issues throughout this season. Integral players like Thiago Alcantara missing out on six-seven games in the initial part of the season obviously showed in the sub-standard results.

Currently, a number of first-team members stand sidelined due to injury. Here is an update on a few of the first-team players and their expected date of return courtesy of the official Liverpool FC website.

Andrew Robertson

Gaffer Jurgen Klopp informed the press about Robbo

‘s injury which he sustained in the 4-1 loss to Napoli. A knee injury kept him away from the Ajax fixture wherein Kostas Tsimikas deputed for him and played an excellent game.

The Greek international’s efforts were more than handy and he provided an 89th-minute assist to Joel Matip which resulted in Liverpool winning the game. The international break will be Andy’s only break from the game before he returns to training.

Jordan Henderson

The skipper has not been in action since the Newcastle United game wherein he suffered from a hamstring injury. As a result, he sat out of important games against Everton, Napoli and Ajax.

The Reds signed Arthur Melo from Juventus on loan on deadline day to tackle Hendo’s injury issue. The Brazilian is also yet to play enough for the first team. Hendo’s scan has ruled him out from making any appearances before the international break and similar to Andy, the Skipper will also see a return to training after the national duties.

Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Naby Keita

It is rather amusing that the return dates for two of our most injury-prone midfielders are not very far off from each other. Chamberlain suffered an injury in a pre-season friendly against Crystal Palace in Singapore and has not featured since.

Keita‘s injury was extremely untimely. A day prior to the derby against Manchester United, he withdrew from the squad owing to a muscle issue. According to the gaffer

, both of them are expected back “sometime in October”.

As a reason, the pair is not a part of the Liverpool squad for the UEFA Champions League Group Stage fixtures. Moreover, their contracts are set to expire next summer and a future for the pair at Liverpool beyond 2023 looks bleak.

Ibrahima Konate

Liverpool’s French centre-back has not yet featured this season like Ox. Again, similar to Chamberlain, Konate sat out bruised after a pre-season friendly injury in August. Similar to a number of players on the list, Ibou is also expected to return to team training in and around the international break.

With a little bit of a rough patch in defence for Liverpool, a change in the form of Konate cannot come sooner for the Reds.

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With a long tight schedule in place for the Reds after the international break, Liverpool would hope that these are the last injury issues the club has to face, at least for a prolonged period of time so that they could make a case for themselves in all of the four trophies they are competing in.