‘The world wide web has too much time!’: Jurgen Klopp rubbishes talk of a Joe Gomez injury setback at Liverpool’s Austria training camp and says the England man and Virgil van Dijk are getting nearer to returning after major knee injuries
- Jurgen Klopp revealed that Joe Gomez hasn’t suffered a setback in his recovery
- Gomez hasn’t played since last November after he underwent knee surgery
- Klopp stated that Virgil van Dijk is also progressing well as he nears a return
Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp has dismissed reports that defender Joe Gomez has suffered an injury setback.
Gomez hasn’t played since last November after undergoing knee surgery but has taken part in some of Liverpool’s training sessions in pre-season in Austria.
Klopp added that Virgil van Dijk, who has been sidelined since October because of a serious knee problem, is also no longer injured and just needs to build up sharpness.
Jurgen Klopp dismissed suggestions that defender Joe Gomez has suffered an injury setback
Klopp revealed that Gomez is no longer injured and just needs to build up his sharpness
Klopp told Liverpool’s official website: ‘Not at all. No setbacks at all. Not for Joe, nothing – he’s trained completely normal.
‘That’s the thing, these boys are not injured anymore, they are just not at 100 per cent yet. There are usually setbacks but so far there were no setbacks with Joe and Virgil and nobody [else] – they are all fine.
‘What they had to do they did, no reaction with the knee, nothing, all fine. The world wide web had obviously too much time.’
Liverpool are also set to welcome back Joel Matip and Trent Alexander-Arnold from injury, which, added to the signing of Ibrahima Konate, means Liverpool’s defence could be very strong going into the new season.
As well as Gomez, Virgil van Dijk is also making good progress in his recovery from injury
Having Gomez and especially van Dijk back available would be a huge boost for Klopp, who frequently had to change his centre-back pairings last season and often had to field inexperienced players such as Nat Phillips and Rhys Williams.
Van Dijk will hope that he will eventually be able to return to his pre-injury levels, when he was undoubtedly one of the standout players in world football.
After finishing third last campaign, Liverpool are determined to challenge for the Premier League title again.
Liverpool have lost midfielder Georginio Wijnaldum to Paris Saint-Germain but have managed to retain the majority of the rest of their squad.
The Reds commence their pre-season fixtures on Tuesday with two 30-minute games against Wacker Innsbruck and Stuttgart.