As Liverpool gear up for the 2020/21 Premier League campaign and the chance to defend the English top-flight title for the first time in 30 years, they’ve been hit by a terrible injury blow.
The Reds are currently in Austria readying themselves for a couple of pre-season friendlies with the new season just three weeks away.
Unfortunately for Jurgen Klopp, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain will play no more part, meaning that he will also miss out on the Charity Shield match against former club Arsenal as a result.
Worse still, he’ll likely miss the start of the season proper, too.
“Really unfortunate. An unfortunate situation as well; it was a challenge [in training],” Klopp told the official Liverpool website.
“It looks like it is very similar to what Hendo had, which keeps him out for we don’t know for sure exactly how long, but for sure this pre-season he will not make a game, Arsenal for sure not and then we will see. The next game is probably two weeks later, but I don’t know.
“We have to wait but it is far away from being perfect, of course. It is really hard for him and hard for us, but it is not to change.”
Daily Mail journalist, Dominic King, has gone as far as to suggest that the player will actually be out for six to eight weeks, or maybe longer.
Desperate luck for Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain. The injury he’s sustained is similar to the one that Jordan Henderson suffered against Brighton; it’s going to mean a lay-off of 6-8 weeks, possibly longer ?
— Dominic King (@DominicKing_DM) August 21, 2020
Oxlade-Chamberlain’s career has been blighted by serious injuries, but a sign of his character is how he’s battled back each and every time, and played the fullest part in Liverpool’s title-winning campaign.
This new knee complaint will surely come as a bitter blow, however, and with Klopp being one midfielder down for the foreseeable future, it opens up the possibility to a transfer, perhaps even for Thiago Alcantara from Bayern Munich.