Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp is hopeful Virgil van Dijk will be able to make his long-awaited comeback from injury in Thursday’s left-back match against Hertha, while Joe Gomez could return to the pitch for the first time when Athletic Club visit Anfield on August 8.
Van Dijk and Gomez both missed most of last season due to long-term knee injuries suffered during the first weeks of the campaign. But everyone has trained well during the club’s pre-season camp in Austria and attention is increasingly focused on when they can get some playing time.
Van Dijk, who was injured in mid-October, is a little longer than Gomez and Klopp hopes to be able to use the Dutch midfielder from the bench against Hertha.
“I hope, I’m not sure there is a possibility that Virgil can play for a few minutes,” Klopp told LiverpoolFC.com ahead of this week’s friendly against the Bundesliga team.
“He looks really good in training and maybe we can take it [him in], but I need to have some final calls. He looks ready and we’ll see. ”
Gomez is slightly further away from a return, but Klopp says that the 24-year-old is “very close”.
“If Virgil can play now 20, Joey can probably play in the game after. We’ll see. During training, they both look really good, “explained the manager.
“I think sometimes there are some pictures of them from training sessions and everyone can see how good it looks, but there is no hurry for us. It’s not that they now need five pre-season matches to be ready to start or whatever. ”
Joe Gomez may be back on the pitch for Augusta’s friendly matches / Chloe Knott – Danehouse / Getty Images
The Hertha match is Liverpool’s last of a camp season in Austria, with the Athletic friendly match one of two against Spanish opposition at Anfield next month – Osasuna visiting the next day.
Liverpool’s Premier League season starts away against Norwich on Saturday 14 August.
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