Jürgen Klopp Confirms Jordan Henderson Sidelined for Weeks

The hamstring injury that forced Jordan Henderson off in Liverpool’s loss to Atlético Madrid is now officially expected to keep the captain out of action for a few weeks.

Jürgen Klopp confirmed Henderson’s extended absence from the team at his pre-West Ham United press conference on Friday. The substitution on Tuesday night in Madrid was initially claimed to be precautionary but further scans of the injured muscles have caused Liverpool’s medical staff to reevaluate Jordan’s recovery.

Still, Klopp remained optimistic.

“With Hendo it could have been worse,” said Klopp. “It was a hamstring. We’ve heard of different hamstring injuries now in the Premier League, Harry Kane for example. It’s not that bad.

“But he will be out for three weeks or so which isn’t cool. But how we see it, we were still lucky.

“Apart from Hendo, all the other boys are fit.”

With the exception of Xherdan Shaqiri, of course, who the manager later confirmed was nowhere near ready for first team training. There’s a possibility that Shaqiri never returns this season.

A for the here and now, any of Naby Keita, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Adam Lallana or James Milner could do the job in midfield against West Ham. It was Milner who replaced Henderson at the Wanda Metropolitano. Klopp has plenty of options to cover Hendo’s position in the squad.

In addition to West Ham, the captain looks set to matches against Watford and Bournemouth. But there’s a decent chance he could be back in time for the Everton derby on March 16th or even the return fixture with Atlético at Anfield on the 11th.