Jurgen Klopp confirms Virgil van Dijk likely won’t return this season

Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp has admitted Virgil van Dijk is unlikely to return until the end of the current season.

Van Dijk suffered an ACL tear in October, and although a return to action this year has always seemed unlikely, Liverpool have refused to say the Dutchman’s injury ended the season like that of Joel Matip. .

There is still hope, Klopp confirmed in his press conference that he plans to include Van Dijk in his 25-man Champions League squad, but he is not optimistic about the defender’s chances of playing. .

“No matter what, I think we have room for Virgil on the Champions League list,” Klopp said. “I think he was on the Premier League list. No one told me I had to change something about it. If we have room on the Champions League roster, Virgil will be on the roster.

“At the moment I don’t know where these things are coming from – nobody really, no doctor, nobody really told me that there was a chance for Virgil to play again this season. I don’t mean to say it’s absolutely impossible, but it’s not likely. It’s unlikely. We don’t really have to discuss these things.

“If we had space, we would place them all, even though all the doctors tell us there is no chance. We put them on because we believe in miracles from time to time.

“But if there is no room, then we have to look at that stuff and say, ‘The luck is not too great, so we have to make the decision. “But if they’re on the list, it’s only because we’re almost hoping for a miracle.

Liverpool eventually dived into the transfer market to sign replacement center-backs, bringing in Ben Davies and Ozan Kabak from Preston and Schalke respectively, but Klopp warned fans not to expect the pair to start together from if early.

“The good thing is it’s still football,” Klopp said when asked if the pair’s lack of Premier League experience was behind his decision. “They played in Germany, they played in the league, so that’s not a problem.

“Coming to defense we had 12 or 13 different pairs of center-backs, and that makes it harder for Neco. [Williams] and Kostas [Tsimikas] as well as. Kostas is new, Neco is still young, you look for stability in the team, and when you change often [it is harder].

“We obviously don’t live in an ideal world, and that means we have to be smart, we have to be fast and we try everything to do it. We have different things to help them and it’s going faster, but obviously we’re playing. different from Preston, obviously different from Schalke, that’s clear.

“They’ll need time, but we don’t have a lot of time, so we’ll use the time we have on our hands and do our best. If they were to start tomorrow night together, I think it wouldn’t be too much. cool. But we’ll give them a few more days. “

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