Liverpool Team News: Klopp Handed Injury Boost But Summer Signing Ruled Out

Jurgen Klopp has mixed injury news to contend with as he prepares his Liverpool squad to welcome the Premier League champions to Anfield on Saturday evening.

According to the Liverpool Echo, summer signing Ragnar Klavan is set to miss the game this weekend after aggravating a knee injury while away on international duty this week.

Klavan missed the 1-1 draw at Tottenham Hotspur before the international break because of the knee problem but a scan gave him the all-clear to play for Estonia in their World Cup qualifier with Bosnia-Herzegovina on Tuesday night.

The 30-year-old successfully completed the full ninety minutes but the centre-back aggravated the knee injury in the second half during a disappointing 5-0 defeat and was limping during the final stages of the game.

Klavan returned to Liverpool’s Melwood training base today and the injury will be assessed by medical staff over the next 48 hours but the Liverpool Echo claim he’s highly unlikely to feature against Leicester on Saturday evening.

In Klavan’s absence, fellow summer signing Joel Matip is expected to continue alongside Dejan Lovren in the middle of defence after putting in an impressive performance on his debut at White Hart Lane last time out.

There is slightly better news regarding the fitness of Loris Karius as the Liverpool Echo also report that the goalkeeper is back in contention after returning to full first team training on Wednesday.

Karius joined Liverpool from Mainz earlier in the summer but has been on the sidelines for the last six weeks after fracturing his hand during a pre-season friendly with Chelsea during their tour of the United States back in July.

The German stopper has recovered quicker than expected and resumed full training ahead of schedule on Wednesday putting himself in the frame to return to the squad against Leicester this weekend.

Before his injury, Karius had started as Klopp’s number one in pre-season but the Liverpool Echo suggest that the Reds boss is set to stick with Simon Mignolet against the Foxes this Saturday.

The paper says that Klopp has been happy with the Belgian international’s performances so far this season and feels Karius needs more time in training before he’ll be ready to command the first team shirt again.