Klopp Provides Fitness Update on Five Players — and on Two Other Absences

In his pre-Brighton press conference, Liverpool head coach Jürgen Klopp has provided updates on Luis Diaz, Roberto Firmino, Diogo Jota and Virgil van Dijk — all of whom have been progressing well with their recovery.

“Closer, yes, of course closer. Luis takes longer but Diogo, Bobby and Virgil, a couple of weeks and [then they] can join training, and then we have to see how quick it goes from there.”

None of them will be ready at the weekend, but the Real Madrid meeting in February looks like a possible target date.

Arthur Melo, who plays for Liverpool, has been long-sidelined with a calf injury. Klopp also provided updates on Melo: “I would say pretty good, so he’s running a lot. Two or three weeks, I think, maybe until he can join team training.

“But it looks good for a while already. So it was now a long injury and he needs a proper build-up. He was not a part of team training or whatever.”

In other news, both Fabio Carvalho and James Milner will be unavailable for the weekend, though both look to be short-term absences:

“Fabio Carvalho is obviously out. He has a little thing. Did anybody tell me that he can train today? I don’t think so, but maybe he can train today but he will not be 100 per cent ready for the weekend.

“Millie was not in training for one day but he’s fine – there was no injury reason. Nat has a proper, proper cold.”