Liverpool could reportedly be without the services of Nathaniel Clyne for an additional three months amid fresh fears over his injury.
The 26-year-old hasn’t featured for the Reds at all so far this season as a troublesome back injury has plagued him for months.
His omission from Liverpool’s Champions League squad for the group stage raised further concerns, and The Times report that the England international could now be ruled out for another three months.
Although the form of Trent Alexander-Arnold and Joe Gomez will have softened the blow, it’s far from ideal for Liverpool to be missing their first-choice right-back for the first half of the season.
Further, there is no return date for Clyne and so question marks will remain over when he will make his comeback as early 2018 now seems like a possibility.
Philippe Coutinho got the nod in the 32-man squad as Klopp looks to reintegrate him into the team following his failed move to Barcelona this past summer, with the Brazilian missing time himself with a reported back injury.
Add Adam Lallana to the injury list and Liverpool will hope that key players start to return sooner rather than later so that they can kick on in the second half of the campaign and really compete for titles.
Time will tell how much of the season Clyne will feature in, as he’ll also be desperately disappointed with the World Cup fast approaching in Russia next summer too which puts his place in the England squad in jeopardy.