Two injured Liverpool players will likely still be out after the World Cup. The Reds won’t have a full squad return next month.
The Liverpool Echo understands that there will be at least two Liverpool players still out once club football returns next month. The Reds’ next game is against Manchester City in the EFL Cup on December 22nd, with the Premier League resuming four days later.
But that extended lay-off doesn’t mean all the injured players will recover. There’s an expectation that Luis Díaz does, while Naby Keita can surely use the rest to stay consistently fit.
The Echo names both Diogo Jota and Arthur Melo are two players who will still be out. They’re also careful to say ‘at least’ – it’s difficult to predict what happens between now and then entirely.
Injured Liverpool players after the World Cup
The positive here is that Liverpool can cover both. Getting Díaz back would give Liverpool four first-choice forwards once again, with both Fabio Carvalho and Curtis Jones able to cover in the forward line, too.
While getting Jota back will be a massive boost, the Reds should be okay if his injury extends into January.
Arthur, again, won’t be missed. If only because Liverpool haven’t really had him – the Brazilian played around 13 minutes before picking up a long-term injury. We won’t see him until January at the earliest and there’s a sense we may never see him in Red again.
Liverpool face a big decision in January on whether to persist with Arthur. The likelihood of making his loan permanent was always on the negative side – now it seems almost impossible. He’d have to seriously impress on his return from injury and show essentially zero need to adapt.
And that’s only to get some minutes in the side before his loan expires.