Jurgen Klopp has revealed that Thiago Alcantara could make his long-awaited return to full team training next week.
And the Spaniard may well be joined by James Milner and Xherdan Shaqiri as they also continue to step up their respective bids for full fitness.
Thiago has been out of action since sustaining a knee injury in the final moments of the Reds' 2-2 Merseyside derby draw with Everton in mid-October.
The summer signing from Bayern Munich had appeared close to a return later that month after being photographed taking part in individual sessions at Melwood but saw his comeback delayed by continued pain.
However, he has finally resumed fitness work this week and is, according to Klopp, close to joining his teammates in training.
The German said: "We already made jokes here that we should sign Thiago for January!
"He gets closer and closer and is in a good way but we will not rush it we cannot rush it and he will not because he is not allowed to rush it.
"But of course it's nice having him on the pitch training, doing a lot of stuff, but he was not in team training yet and that is actually the final step.
"We will see how it is. We get [a look] at him on the pitch and then next week, can he be in team training? I don't know at the moment 100 per cent, a few tests he has to pass until we make that decision."
Klopp went on to provide news of a further injury boost, revealing that Milner (hamstring) and Shaqiri (muscle) are also nearing a return.
He added: "Hopefully that is not only for [Thiago] the case, with Milner it will be similar, with Shaq it will be similar."
