Liverpool are in the midst of a spate of midfield injuries and two of the longest running cases appear to have been affected by a recent decision made by the club.
It was reported that both Naby Keita and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain would not feature in this season’s Champions League group stage squads, due to ongoing injuries they are both suffering from.
In reaction to this news (writing for CaughtOffisde), Fabrizio Romano provided the following update: “There was some eye-catching news from Liverpool yesterday as both Naby Keita and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain were left out of the club’s Champions League squad.
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“I think that next summer both players will evaluate their future. Keita has already had opportunities in the summer but Liverpool wanted to keep him because Klopp considers him an important player in the rotations”.
At first glance, the decision for both men to be omitted from the squad is surprising, but when you understand that it’s because they’re both injured, that surely makes a lot of sense.
Due to the World Cup in Qatar, all European matches will be completed by the beginning of November, which means that we can now expect both players to be out for another two months or so.
If that’s not the case and the duo is fit and ready to play much sooner, then this supposed decision to assess their future would make more sense.
Jurgen Klopp wouldn’t want to waste a roster space on an unfit player and that was probably a big reason in signing Arthur Melo too.
The fact that Stefan Bajcetic is also selected shows that we are a bit light in the midfield area for the group stage, but hopefully we will have enough to make it to the knockout rounds, where we can see our No. 8 and No. 15. back in the team.
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