Jurgen Klopp has revealed that Virgil van Dijk could make his return from injury in Liverpool’s friendly with Hertha BSC in Innsbruck on Thursday.
The Dutchman has been sidelined since suffering an ACL injury in the Merseyside derby draw with Everton last October following a challenge by Jordan Pickford.
As a result of surgery, Van Dijk was also forced to miss out on Euro 2020 this summer as he continued his rehabilitation with the Reds.
But after being included in Liverpool’s travelling party for their pre-season training camp in Austria, the centre-back now appears to be nearing a return after a 9-month lay-off.
“I hope, I am not sure, that there is the opportunity that Virgil could play a few minutes,” Klopp told Liverpoolfc.com.
“He looks really good in training and maybe we can bring [him in], but I need to have some final conversations. He looks ready and we will see.”
While Joe Gomez is also 'close' to returning to action having been sidelined since November, Klopp has confirmed.
The centre-back also went under the knife after suffering his own serious knee injury while away on international duty with England eight months ago.
“If you see the games now as part of their rehab training, that makes sense,” Klopp continued on the pair.
“Joey is very close. There is no race between the two of them; they had different injuries and stuff like this, but [he is] very close.
“If Virgil can play now 20 then probably Joey can in the game after. We will see. In training they both look really good.
“I think from time to time there are some pictures of them from training sessions and everyone can see how good it looks, but there is no rush for us. It is not about they now need five pre-season games to be ready for the start or whatever.
“It is a long season and we prepare them after these very, very serious injuries for the rest of their careers and not for the first game of the season.
“Losing a little bit of patience for them to return as a supporter or as a coach even is not bad, it just means they were pretty good and we want them to be back in the team.”
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