Liverpool will be without Jeremie Frimpong for their games against Newcastle and Arsenal after their summer signing suffered a hamstring injury.
It leaves head coach Arne Slot unsure who will play right-back at St James’ Park on Monday with Conor Bradley only just back in training and Joe Gomez having been injured in pre-season.
Frimpong, a £30m buy from Bayer Leverkusen, was taken off in his Premier League debut, Liverpool’s 4-2 win over Bournemouth, when Slot’s backroom staff suspected he had a problem and tests confirmed that he will be out until September.
“The medical team was completely right about Jeremie to take him off because he’s out until the end of the international break and that happened during the game,” Slot said.
“I think I got criticised a bit for taking him off, didn’t I? I’ve already said it had nothing to do with how he played but we felt he had an issue with his hamstring and by we, I mean the medical staff.
“They were completely right. It was a good call to take him off otherwise he maybe would have been out for longer. We expect to have him back after the international break.”
Slot is not concerned about Frimpong’s future availability due to his fitness record to date in his career with Celtic and Bayer Leverkusen.
“Jeremie has a very positive injury record,” Slot added. “Conor has been out once or twice last season. These things happen.
“We only have two injuries at the same moment but they are in the same position. Wata, Dominik Szoboszlai.”
Joe Gomez is also being carefully managed back from injury and will be assessed on Monday with a view to filling in for Frimpong.
“Gomez hasn’t had a setback but he wasn’t able to train three days in a row,” Slot said. “We will see where he is on Monday and if he can start. You can’t prepare for injuries in one position – you can’t have five right-backs. Although we do have three left-backs at the moment!”
Bradley is on the comeback trail and has been named in the Northern Ireland squad and Slot said: “Conor trained for a few minutes with us today for the first time.”
Slot has said that new signing Giovanni Leoni has trained with first team after his £26m move from Parma and he is deliberating whether to include the teenage centre-back.
