Jurgen Klopp has confirmed a key Liverpool midfielder will miss Sunday’s clash with Manchester United after sustaining a horror injury the likes of which the Reds boss has never seen before.
Liverpool currently top the table and three points against the Red Devils would further aid their title charge.
A key figure in their resurgence this season has been Alexis Mac Allister – a £35m signing from Brighton in the summer.
The Argentine World Cup winner has generally been deployed out of position in the holding role this season. However, it’s a role he’s willingly adopted and without him, it’s fair to say Liverpool simply would not be the league leaders right now.
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However, Liverpool will now be without Mac Allister for the Man Utd clash after Klopp shed light on the midfielder’s gruesome injury.
Mac Allister suffered a knee injury during the 2-0 victory over Sheffield United on December 6. Blades star Vinicius Souza trod on Mac Allister’s knee and per Klopp, his stud went straight through the muscle and hit the bone.
Vinicius Souza trod on Mac Allister’s knee
Klopp has never seen anything like Mac Allister’s knee injury
“Never had this injury for one of my players before,” began Klopp. “But now we have it and I hope [the recovery] will not take that long.
Detailing precisely what the injury is, Klopp continued: “It’s a bit more tricky that we thought in the first moment.
“I am obviously not a doctor but they have explained it to me every single day why he is not ready yet and it’s a bit more tricky than we thought in the first moment,” Klopp said on Wednesday.
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“So the other boy stepped on his knee and the stud, the thing under the boot, and it went through the muscle pretty much to the bone. So now we have to wait until the bone is healed and until Macca can deal with the pain.
“It’s pretty painful and actually Macca is a super tough guy but we have to make sure there is no infection and nothing happens and that is important. So it was a really…I’ve never had this injury with one of my players before.
“But now we have it and I hope it will not take that long to heal but I would like to say to it is day by day and it looks like he could be ready for the next game but they say he will not be ready for that as well, so I hope the next three or four days he makes big steps and we will see.”
The most obvious candidate to assume the holding midfield role on Sunday is Wataru Endo.
The Japan international was the only out-and-out defensive midfielder Liverpool signed when overhauling their central options in the summer.
The 30-year-old Endo has had difficulty getting starts in the Premier League thus far. Still, he has made 19 appearances in all, all in different competitions.
Endo was selected to start Thursday night’s Europa League semifinal matchup between USG and Endo. He was replaced at halftime, though, which would indicate Klopp was controlling his playing time in preparation for starting against Manchester United the following weekend.