Jurgen Klopp has announced that Mo Salah will return to training in the next few weeks, writes Matt Colley from the AXA Training Centre.

The Egypt striker suffered a hamstring injury against Ghana at the African Cup of Nations last month.

Salah flew back from the Ivory Coast to Merseyside where he has continued his rehabilitation – but he won’t be available for Liverpool’s next few games, including today’s Premier League encounter against Burnley at Anfield (3pm ko).

Klopp said: “He’s heading in the right direction, we hope, but we don’t know. He will be a part of training next week, but we have to see.

“It’s positive, it’s either next week or the week after. If you ask him it’s next week!”

Despite the good news of Salah’s imminent return to training, Klopp has an unwelcome list of unavailable players. The severity of his teammate Thiago Alcantara’s latest injury is currently unknown. The Brazilian picked up the injury after playing for just 12 minutes in his comeback game against Arsenal after previously being out of action the for the last 10 months.

Regarding his current situation Klopp revealed: “Thiago is not cool, it is a muscle injury, we don’t know the extent yet but it’s not cool. It’s not good news for him, for us, or for anybody.”

Klopp is also unsure of when midfielder Dominik Szoboszlai will return to the pitch after struggling with a recurring hamstring injury. The Liverpool manager said: “Like with all these tendon things, pretty quickly the player is pain free and then it’s all about the muscle.

“It’s pretty much the same injury as he had before. Obviously it’s really not good that he got that again. It didn’t feel a great issue but when you see the pictures you just have to take him out.”

Despite the injuries currently troubling the squad fans can look forward to seeing the return of “super influential” Wataru Endo after his absence due to his commitments with the Japanese national team.

Klopp believes the partnership between Endo and Alexis Mac Allister could be the key to unlocking Mac Allister’s potential further up the pitch. He said: “Macca and Wataru can play together, there’s no doubt about that.”

Before being called up for the Asia Cup with Japan, Endo started in eight games for Liverpool playing out of a defensive midfield position.

Given the team’s current run of form, and an increasingly long list of injured players, Klopp addressed the potential for a banana skin performance against Burnley, believing that the home fans could play a crucial role in helping the Reds get back on track following last weekend’s 3-1 defeat at Arsenal.

Klopp said: “It’s an opponent we respect a lot. The team want to show a reaction, if the people want to help us with that it would be great.

“We should be ready for it, but it’s football, we have a lot of work to do.”

Liverpool are currently top of the league with a two point lead on Manchester City who are in second place with a game in hand.

 

 

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