Jurgen Klopp refuses to rule out signings to alleviate Liverpool’s injury issues
Defender Ibrahima Konate has joined an injury list containing several first-team players
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Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp has not ruled out dipping into the transfer market to alleviate his current injury problems but admits it is not the solution to a “four-week problem”.
Centre-back Ibrahima Konate injured a knee in the friendly against Strasbourg on Sunday which Klopp admits will see the defender out “for a while”.
He joins an injury list which already includes Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain (hamstring), Diogo Jota (thigh), Curtis Jones (calf), second-choice goalkeeper Caoimhin Kelleher (groin) and Kostas Tsimikas (knock), with Naby Keita set to resume training on Friday after almost a week out with illness.
Liverpool had already completed their expected business with the arrival of striker Darwin Nunez, whose move from Benfica could eventually end up being a club-record £85million, Fulham teenager Fabio Carvalho for £5m and Aberdeen defender Calvin Ramsey for £6.5m.
“We have too many injuries, that’s true,” said the Reds boss. “But in the moment nothing has changed (in terms of new signings). A lot of unlucky situations. Started with Caoimh and Diogo, pretty much one was injured and one had a re-injury.
“In a few weeks’ time they will be back, but they’ve missed pre-season and that’s not cool. Ibou in a challenge in the game against Strasbourg, what happened there we have to see how long it will take but he’s out for a while.
“But we cannot solve a problem we have for four weeks with a transfer for a full year. That makes at the moment no sense to us. The transfer window is still open and we will see but the plans are not to go in that direction.”
Konate’s problem does mean, however, centre-back Nat Phillips is unlikely to be loaned out as he will be needed for cover.
Klopp did, at least, have some good news with goalkeeper Alisson Becker fit to start against Fulham in Saturday’s lunchtime kick-off having missed most of pre-season with an abdominal injury sustained in the brief tour to the Far East.
The manager is also confident Nunez is ready to go straight into the side if required, having made a big impact as a second-half substitute in Saturday’s FA Community Shield win over Manchester City.
“Darwin is ready, but does that mean he has to start? I don’t know,” he added.
“We have different options and that is what we will use and Darwin needs time to get used to a lot of things but he is already a real help and it went really quick from the first (pre-season) game when I thought ‘What are we doing with him?’.
“Not because of him but because of the passes we played for him. It was a proper pre-season training session for him and we gave him a lot of runs to do.
“He is completely settled. He said himself he was very nervous in the beginning and I sympathise with that a lot, it’s normal.
“But he settled pretty quickly because of all the players, not only the Spanish speakers, and that was very helpful and he feels at home after a short period.
“He had a real impact in the first final we could have played but the work will not stop and he is in the best possible place.”
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