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Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp has provided valuable fitness updates on defender Virgil van Dijk and other key first-team players ahead of their away game against Leeds United.
The Liverpool manager has revealed that the Dutch defender is fit to participate in their game against Leeds United despite limping off against Turkey whilst on international duty. Klopp revealed his conversation with Van Dijk on the Liverpool website:
“With Virgil, that was obviously a scary moment, you can imagine. I sent him a message after the game, ‘Are you alright?’ ‘Yes.’ ‘100 per cent?’ ‘200 per cent.’ ‘Come on, send me a video of you without limping...’ ‘I’m only limping off.’
“So he called me from the bus and said, ‘Boss, I’m fine!’ I said, ‘Why are you limping then?’ He said, ‘My wife asked the same!’ So, yeah, that was a bit of a tricky moment but apart from that, no, all fine."
Jurgen Klopp has also mentioned that Roberto Firmino will miss Liverpool's next Premier League fixture. The Brazilian suffered an injury when Liverpool played Chelsea two weeks ago:
“Bobby is not [fit], it happened in the game [against Chelsea] obviously."
Klopp also said Naby Keita has returned to Liverpool following a tricky political situation which arose in Guinea while he was away on international duty. Klopp added:
“Naby is fine. Yesterday he was not here [at the AXA Training Centre] but he was in Liverpool again. I will have a chat with him today, but from what I know from all the calls and talks we had, he’s fine.”
Jurgen Klopp has also revealed that Liverpool will have Harvey Elliott available for selection despite suffering an injury while playing for England U-21s.
Liverpool will need a healthy squad for a busy September
Liverpool will need all their players fully fit as a busy month of September lies ahead of Jurgen Klopp's men. The Reds take on Leeds United, Crystal Palace and Brentford in the Premier League before facing AC Milan and Porto in the Champions League.
Liverpool also have a game against Norwich City in the Carabao Cup. However, Jurgen Klopp always plays a heavily rotated starting XI in cup competitions which will give stars like Mohamed Salah, Sadio Mane and Virgil van Dijk some much needed breaks.
Also Read: David James' column - Ranking the 5 best managers in world football at the moment
