Liverpool manager Jürgen Klopp has given an update on the Virgil Van Dijk hamstring injury. The star center back had to be substituted at halftime during Liverpool’s game against Brentford on Monday. Hosts Brentford went on to win the match, 3-1.
“It was a surprise for us and a big blow. The diagnosis was pretty harsh,” Klopp claimed during a press conference on Friday. “We talk about weeks, more than a month. It’s a muscle thing. It was one sprint too much in that moment.”
“It’s not a short-term and I had longer-term injuries as well in my career as a manager. So, it’s somewhere in between. He will be out for a few weeks, definitely.”
Did heavy schedule lead to Van Dijk injury?
The manager also spoke on the pileup of fixtures for the central defender. In fact, Van Dijk has played 75 total games for Liverpool since the start of the 2021/22 campaign. This obviously does not even include international fixtures with the Netherlands as well.
“For Virgil, it is hard for him but he played an incredible amount of games over the last years and we cannot use him on the pitch, only off the pitch, and we will do that,” Klopp said.
“He never had an issue with muscles before and it just now happened. That’s how it is. We did nothing different.”
Liverpool have struggled in the past without their rock in the middle of defense. The center back missed most of the 2020/21 season with a serious knee injury. Liverpool finished that campaign 17 points behind title-winning Manchester City. The Reds only lost the top flight last season with Van Dijk by a single point.
New signing ready to be deployed
There was, however, good news regarding new signing Cody Gakpo. Klopp stated in the press conference that the forward would feature against Wolves at the weekend. The Dutch international teammate of Van Dijk cost the Merseyside club about $44 million when he signed last week.
“Yes, [Gakpo] is in contention. He will be involved in the squad, of course. How exactly we will have to decide in the next few hours, but that’s fine,” said Klopp.
PHOTO: IMAGO / News Images
