Jürgen Klopp confirms Loris Karius injury
Jürgen Klopp has confirmed Loris Karius has sustained a broken bone in his hand and is facing between six and 10 weeks out of action.
The goalkeeper picked up the injury during Liverpool’s International Champions Cup clash with Chelsea in Los Angeles on Wednesday night and has returned home from the club’s tour of the United States.
Ahead of the Reds’ fixture with AC Milan on Saturday, Klopp told journalists at the Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara: “It’s not too cool, of course. You never want to have an injured player and the problem with injuries is that they’re always at the wrong time – there is never good timing with injuries. It’s not cool for the boy, it’s not cool for us, but it can’t be changed so we have to take it.
“We have another three goalkeepers and everybody knows about the quality of Simon Mignolet, so [that's] all good and he’s made a really good impression in the first few days since he’s been back in training.
“We have the very experienced Alex Manninger and the very young Shamal George. That’s now the situation. It could have been worse – everybody knows a broken bone in the hand for a goalkeeper is not the best thing to have.
“It could have been worse, but six, eight, 10 weeks – whatever it takes in the end – it’s not the longest period, but it’s not too good of course.”
Karius had figured in all five of Liverpool’s pre-season friendlies to date following his transfer from FSV Mainz earlier this summer.
The German was set to challenge Simon Mignolet for a berth between the sticks this season – a task that will briefly have to be put on hold while he recovers from the injury.
And Klopp revealed news of the setback means fellow goalkeepers Alex Manninger and Shamal George are likely to see some action in the forthcoming fixtures.
The manager continued: “Timing is never perfect with injuries – not for him, not for us. It’s not that I have decided who is No.1 or something else, so it [has been] about collecting information about the players.
“We have some about him [Karius], we have some about Simon Mignolet. It was only a battle between these two players obviously and so now this battle is decided for the next few weeks, 100 per cent.
“It’s [now] only about who can help us most in which situation in which game, so I am really happy we have Simon and hopefully he can stay in the race and not get injured.
“The other two players – Manninger and George – we need to give them match time now. We will still collect information about the players, we will work with them and in the end we will make decisions. That’s how it is in each other position too.”