Jurgen Klopp has provided an injury update on Virgil van Dijk ahead of Liverpool’s Premier League trip to top-four rivals Newcastle United.
Van Dijk was an unused substitute in Liverpool’s 2-0 victory over Everton in the Merseyside derby on Monday.
The 31-year-old Netherlands international centre-back missed the last three top-flight games before that due to a hamstring injury.
But he could be set to return for the Reds’ huge match against Eddie Howe’s side at St James’ Park on Saturday, Klopp has confirmed.
Liverpool are currently ninth in the Premier League table, nine points behind fourth-placed Newcastle having played a game less.
Quizzed if Van Dijk was fit to start for Saturday’s clash, Klopp said: ‘I think so. Yesterday (in training), he looked absolutely ready.
‘I think today he will look the same and then we will make a decision.’
‘So, now we have to use that because we couldn’t. If you want to adapt to a new thing and can’t train for four months, stuff like this, it’s really tricky.
‘He was always this step behind, now he has that injury and this season is over – even if you could come back a bit earlier, that makes no sense because now it is really to build the boy up physically and then to have a new start and we go again.
‘We cannot play catch-up all the time with him because he is a great talent, a real talent, who had the most unlucky start possible.
‘But in the end when he finishes his career at 36 or 37 or whatever, if he can say then, ‘The most difficult year of my career was the first’, or the second in his case maybe, that’s absolutely OK because all the others were better and we did the right things in the first two. So, that’s what we try to do now with him.’
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