Liverpool have been hit with another major injury blow as key center-back Virgil van Dijk harmstring injury worsened.
Virgil Van Dijk picked an excruciating hamstring injury in Liverpool’s shock defeat to Brentford in the Premier League.
The Dutch center-back is an integral part of Jurgen Klopps’s squad and has been phenomenal for the team since joining from Southampton. This season, he has played in every Liverpool league game, and is key in their Champions League campaign.
Van Dijk was substituted at half-time in the 3-1 loss to Brenford at Gtech Community Stadium following the injury.
According to reports, there is no timescale on his potential return to the team, but the injury is getting worse.
Meanwhile, Jurgen Klopp still has handful of replacement options at the center-back position with the likes of Joel Matip, Ibrahima Konate, Joe Gomez and Nathaniel Phillips fit to start in van Dijk’s place.
The Reds are struggling in the Premier League this season and have been ruled out of the Premier League title race.
They are equally slipping off the race for the top four and may likely fell off Champions League spot after Thomas Frank’s Brentford ran away with all three points against them.
Losing Virgil van Dijk may turned out to be a double jeopardy for the Reds. Speaking after the defeat by Brentford on Virgil’s injury, Jurgen Klopp said: “Virgil felt a little bit the muscle and said it is fine, and he is a very good judge of these kind of things. But I didn’t want to take any risks.”
Klopp was expressly candid on his planned step after the injury. He said the club will not take any risk by featuring the player in any game depite the Dutch admitting he is fine after the injury.
The former Borussia Dortmund manager added Virgil van Dijk will see specialists after the injury to ascertain the extent of damage, treatment and a possible timescale of return.
Virgil van Dijk has now added up to the mounting injury lists of Liverpool. The Reds have had scores of its first-team players ruled out of the team this season.
Diogo Jota and Luiz Diaz leads Liverpool’s injury list, but are set to return to the team sooner than later. Also on the Reds’ injury list is Arthur Melo, Roberto Firminho, and James Milner.
With the Dutch defender ready to undergo scan to determine the extend of the injury, he is likely to miss a couple of games for the Reds.
Liverpool takes on Brighton away from home in their next Premier League game on January 14 before playing host to Chelsea at Anfield on January 21
Meanwhile, there is an FA Cup tie against Wolves on January 7 and a Premier League game against the same opponent after the Chelsea game. Virgil Van Dijk is expected to miss all these fixtures following the injury.
