Friday, July 23, 2021 at 9:46 PM• Rian Rosendaal

Virgil van Dijk does not have to count on playing time at Liverpool for the time being, according to the words of Jürgen Klopp on Friday. The German manager of the Reds does not want to take any risks with the Dutch defender and Joe Gomez during the training camp in Austria. Van Dijk suffered a serious knee injury last October and has not played for Liverpool and the Dutch national team since then.

Liverpool will continue the practice phase on Thursday 29 July with a practice match against Hertha BSC in Innsbruck. After Friday’s 1-0 practice win at FSV Mainz 05, Klopp does not assume that Van Dijk will be thrown to the lions. “It would be a surprise if they (Van Dijk and Gomez, ed.) then participate, unfortunately. Although both players are clearly on their way back, they are doing everything they can. They participate in everything and just train . We are doing the maximum for them, but we have to be patient,” Klopp tells his defenders.

“We are preparing for a full season, not just one match in the practice campaign,” said Klopp once again from Austria. “I don’t want to take unnecessary risks before a game, so we’ll see what we decide. There are still a lot of games on the program in the preparation. I am not taking Van Dijk and Gomez into account with regard to the next game.” The defenders also did not play in Liverpool’s shortened exhibition games with Wacker Innsbruck and VfB Stuttgart on Tuesday, matches that ended in 1-1 in both cases.

Klopp denied on Sunday that Gomez had a setback in his rehabilitation. “According to Klopp, the focus at the moment with the Englishman and Van Dijk is on building the focus. “That’s it, these guys are no longer injured. They’re just not 100 per cent fit yet,” the Liverpool manager tried to quell all the rumours. “There are usually setbacks, but until now Joe and Virgil have not experienced these setbacks. What they had to do, they did. They have had no reaction to the knee. The internet clearly has too much time.”

After the friendly meeting with Hertha next Thursday, Liverpool will also play against Athletic Club (August 8) and Osasuna (August 9). The new season in the Premier League will kick off on August 14 against doctoral candidate Norwich City from goalkeeper Tim Krul.