‘Not sure’: Klopp admits 20-year-old Liverpool player may now be injured for Wednesday’s game with Napoli

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Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp has admitted that Fabio Carvalho may miss Wednesday’s Champions League game through injury.

Carvalho was forced off at half-time during today’s 0-0 draw with Everton. And speaking to BT Sport after the match, Klopp admitted that the 20-year-old may not play against Napoli.

“I’m not 100% sure, but we all think it’s the muscle above the knee, with a massive dead leg,” said the boss. “Very painful, whoever had that before can say that it’s one of the most painful things you can get, but should settle. We play already again on Wednesday, so I’m not sure about that.”

Good news that it looks like nothing serious for Carvalho. But it sounds as though Liverpool will now be another body short for the midweek trip to Italy.

Carvalho struggles to get going on first start

Many fans would have been delighted to see Carvalho in the starting XI for the first time on Saturday afternoon.

It’s testament to the youngster’s displays at Liverpool so far that he was thrown in for such a big game.

Unfortunately though, Carvalho simply couldn’t get into the game. Per Fotmob, the Portugal U21 star had just 22 touches as he struggled to offer Liverpool much in midfield.

Most of The Reds play seemed to come down the right-hand side, where Harvey Elliott was a little more visible than Carvalho. It was his link-up with Mohamed Salah and Trent Alexander-Arnold which always looked more likely to bring chances to Liverpool.

That was always going to be a possibility. Carvalho hasn’t played a lot of football in midfield during his career so far. It’s understandable that it will take him a little while to settle into it.

Sadly, it now looks as though he’ll have to wait for his next chance in a red shirt. Hopefully Klopp is spot on with his assessment and Fabio’s injury will settle down quickly.

But in terms of Wednesday, it’s another option down for Liverpool in the midfield. Curtis Jones was absent from the squad today, which suggests he’s perhaps injured again, too.

That would leave James Milner, Fabinho, Harvey Elliott and Arthur Melo as the only players available in midfield. As a result, all signs point to a Liverpool debut for Arthur in Naples.

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