Soccer Football - Pre Season Friendly - Liverpool v RC Strasbourg - Anfield, Liverpool, Britain - July 31, 2022 Liverpool's Ibrahima Konate after sustaining an injury REUTERS/Peter Powell
Liverpool centre-back Ibrahima Konate will miss the Premier League opener and beyond through injury, journalist James Pearce has confirmed.
The Lowdown: Reds open Premier League account
The Reds make the trip to Craven Cottage on Saturday lunchtime, as they look to make a flying start to what is hopefully another legendary campaign in 2022/23.
There is no doubt that Jurgen Klopp’s side are strong favourites to prevail over the newly-promoted Cottagers but they have injury problems going into the game.
One of those is Konate, who limped out of last weekend’s pre-season friendly clash with Strasbourg with a knee issue, making him a big doubt for Saturday’s match.
The Latest: Konate out injured
Taking to Twitter, The Athletic‘s Pearce confirmed that Konate would miss out against Fulham, with the defender adding ‘another injury setback‘ to a list that already includes Diogo Jota, Curtis Jones and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain.
Expanding in his article, the reporter says Konate will miss at least the opening few weeks of the new season.
The Verdict: Another big blow
There is no doubt that this is a blow for Liverpool, considering Konate enjoyed such an excellent first season at Anfield, arguably becoming Van Dijk’s first-choice partner by the end of the campaign, evidenced by him starting the Champions League final.
Granted, the Reds still have Joel Matip and Joe Gomez to call upon – the former will start at Fulham – but having the Frenchman out injured, as well as the likes of Caoimhin Kelleher, Kostas Tsimikas and the aforementioned trio, is far from ideal.
The hope is that Liverpool should still have enough to be too strong for Marco Silva’s side, but the sooner they get Konate back as an option, the better.
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