Alexis Mac Allister suffered a gnarly injury and he has been all but been ruled out to feature against Man United on Sunday, with Jurgen Klopp explaining why it is “more tricky” than first thought.
The midfielder suffered a nasty cut to his knee in the win over Sheffield United and has since been sidelined, with Klopp having previously stated his prognosis was “day by day.”
On Tuesday, Argentine reports claimed Mac Allister will require “approximately 15 days of recovery” for the “deep cut,” which would rule him out until the visit of Arsenal at the earliest.
The 24-year-old has been doing all he can to recover in a swiftly manner, and ahead of the meeting with Union SG on Thursday, Klopp spoke to the media and provided an update on his No. 10.
Klopp said: “I’m not a doctor, they explain to me why it’s not ready yet. [It’s] a bit more tricky than we thought in the first moment.
“The other boy [Sheffield United player] stood on his knee, the stud went through the muscle to the bone.
“Now we have to wait until the bone is healed and until Macca can deal with the pain.
“[It’s] pretty painful. Macca is a super tough guy, we have to make sure from an infection point nothing happens.
“[I’ve] never had this injury with one of my players before, but now we have it. I hope it will not take that long, but I’d like to say it’s day by day.
“That would look like he could maybe play the next game [vs. United], but he will not be ready for that as well. I hope in the next three [to] four days he makes big steps, and then we will see.”
It leaves Wataru Endo as the only recognised No. 6 specialist in the squad, and his minutes against Union SG, if any, will surely be managed with the upcoming fixtures in mind while Mac Allister is injured.
Mac Allister’s injury sees his name still listed alongside Diogo Jota (hamstring), Andy Robertson (shoulder), Thiago (hip), Stefan Bajcetic (calf) and Joel Matip (knee) as Liverpool absentees.
Hopefully, his “day by day” recovery sees him back in time for Arsenal at the very least.
