Jurgen Klopp has confirmed news of a fresh injury blow for Liverpool prior to their FA Cup fifth round clash against Southampton on Wednesday night. The manager spoke to the media this afternoon ahead of the fixture, and he ruled out any possibility of Ryan Gravenberch featuring after the midfielder saw his Carabao Cup final […]
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Jurgen Klopp has confirmed news of a fresh injury blow for Liverpool prior to their FA Cup fifth round clash against Southampton on Wednesday night.
The manager spoke to the media this afternoon ahead of the fixture, and he ruled out any possibility of Ryan Gravenberch featuring after the midfielder saw his Carabao Cup final involvement ended early after shipping a heavy knock to the ankle from a reckless Moises Caicedo challenge.
The Reds boss said (via Neil Jones on X): “Ryan Gravenberch is not available. Ligament injury, could have been much worse, but bad enough that he is out for this game, next game, we will see.”
Jürgen Klopp
"Ryan Gravenberch is not available. Ligament injury, could have been much worse, but bad enough that he is out for this game, next game, we will see.."#LFC
— Neil Jones (@neiljonesgoal) February 27, 2024
With Dominik Szoboszlai, Curtis Jones, Thiago Alcantara and Stefan Bajcetic all sidelined, and Wataru Endo also picking up a knock on Sunday, the last thing Liverpool needed was another injury blow to midfield, but that’s the hand we’ve now been dealt with the news on Gravenberch.
It could well lead to an academy talents like James McConnell and Bobby Clark being entrusted to start against Southampton, with both players having done tremendously to help get the Reds over the line in the Carabao Cup final.
Klopp added that Thiago mightn’t play again this season and Bajcetic isn’t back in team training yet, so our midfield could continue to be depleted for quite some time, a far from ideal scenario when chasing down three more trophies in the coming months.
The one positive from the manager on Gravenberch is the comment that the 21-year-old’s injury could’ve ‘been much worse’, and Liverpool fans everywhere would’ve been recoiling in horror at the severity of the tackle from Caicedo on Sunday, not least in the context of how many players we already have missing.
We hope to see the Dutchman back in action soon, and that whoever comes in for him tomorrow night can step up to the challenge with as much aplomb as our youngsters did at Wembley.
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