Lazar Markovic has endured a bad start to his loan spell at Anderlecht after being put on a special fitness programme.

The Serbian was signed for Liverpool by Brendan Rodgers back in 2014. The winger made 34 appearances in all competitions for the Reds in his debut season but failed to impress in his loan spell with Turkish giants Fenerbahce in the season after that.

Markovic injured his hamstring, which saw his loan spell at Fenerbahce end prematurely with him ending up at Liverpool. In the summer of 2016, the forward agreed to join Sporting Lisbon on a season-long loan. But six months into his loan, he was recalled by Jurgen Klopp and sent to Hull City instead.

Markovic spent the rest of the season with the Tigers but failed to help the club avoid the drop from the Premier League. Following Hull’s relegation from top-flight, the 23-year-old returned to Liverpool but Klopp kept him with the squad for this season.

However, Markovic failed to get any opportunities for the Reds and last month, Klopp allowed the player to leave the club on loan to Anderlecht until the end of the season.

Now, Anderlecht Online reports that the Serbian has already encountered problems in Belgium – just a week after arriving. It is suggested that Markovic produced ‘abysmal’ results in physical tests upon his arrival and will now go on a special fitness programme involving extra sessions.

The report adds that the Belgian club had signed the 23-year-old without a medical last month. If that’s the case, Anderlecht have only themselves to blame too as they have signed an unfit player, who could be out for around for six weeks.

This suggests that Markovic, even if he returns after six weeks, will have just two months to impress in his loan spell with the Belgian giants.

“I think we will be without him for four or five weeks,” Anderlecht manager Hein Vanhaezebrouck was quoted in a report by the Daily Mirror.

“He has a very big gap and is conditional not yet ready to play. So there is a lot of work to be done, but we hope that he can make rapid progress. He can play in different positions, but he has to get up to speed quickly.”

It is very clear that Markovic doesn’t have a future under Klopp but the real shame is that the player has not managed to be fit by not playing competitive football. He should have worked on it.