Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp was cautiously optimistic about the progress made by Virgil van Dijk and three other injured stars who returned to training on Tuesday after lengthy layoffs.
Problems due to injury
Joel Matip, Joe Gomez and Virgil van Dijk all missed most or all of 2021 due to fitness issues, and the Netherlands has been inactive internationally since October after an ACL injury. Trent Alexander-Arnold has also been sidelined ahead of Euro 2020 with a hip problem sustained during an international debt with England.
What did Jurgen Klopp say?
When asked about the quartet, Jurgen Klopp told Liverpool’s official website that no, they are not on the same level as the others, but it is different. To begin with, all four of them look very good. According to Klopp, they are now in constant negotiations with the medical department, fitness department, rehabilitation department about what is right for them today, what should they do, maybe a little more than the rest of the group, should they do a little less ?
So especially Joe and Virgil won’t have double sessions now for the first few days with the team; they have a second session of the day, but this is with Andreas Schlumberger, with the rehabilitation department, physiotherapy, things like that. This is for these two. They look really good. Jurgen Klopp does not know exactly when they will be able to take the next steps, but it will happen in the next four weeks, as if they have taken a big step forward.
Joel Matip looks good, absolutely, he is probably closest to normal training, and then they will see when they start playing him. Jugen Klopp also said that Trent Alexander-Arnold was quite a serious injury, but now not a major one. Trent is close, but at the moment, probably for the next five or six days, he has a special program: from time to time with the team, probably from time to time himself, but then in five, six or seven days he should be at normal team training.