Alexander Isak is a major doubt to face Manchester United for Liverpool in Sunday’s Old Trafford showdown.
In a hammer blow for Arne Slot and the Reds, who are already without Mo Salah and Hugo Ekitike, the £130m striker is now not expected to play.
Isak is understood to have suffered a groin injury in training this week in another setback to what has been a nightmare first campaign with the Premier League champions.
He is set to undergo a scan to assess the extent of the problem.
Isak only returned to the fold last month having broken his leg in December and he also suffered fitness issues earlier in the season, primarily caused by his lack of a pre-season as he forced through British-record transfer from Newcastle.
Isak has been plagued by injury issues before and the timing of this one is abysmal for Slot and the player himself.
Alexander Isak (centre) is a major doubt to face Man United on Sunday for Liverpool
The 26-year-old has made only 13 starts at Liverpool in the Premier League and scored three times.
But he showed a flash of his ability last weekend, finishing nicely to score the opener at Anfield against Crystal Palace. This latest setback looks like it will again deny him the chance to build up rhythm and fitness.
Liverpool and Man United are both closing in on Champions League qualification but are aiming to finish in third spot.
The Old Trafford showdown will go a long way to deciding which of the fierce rivals is able to do so and if Isak does indeed miss the game as expected, Slot will be down to the bare bones in attack.
Salah suffered a muscle injury in the victory over Palace last weekend but is expected to return before the end of the season.
Ekitike is out for the long term having suffered an Achilles rupture against PSG last month that will also keep him on the treatment table for a chunk of next season.
It means Slot will have to rethink his plans and possibly play Cody Gakpo up front or Florian Wirtz as a false nine.
United are aiming to do the double over their old rivals having won at Anfield earlier in the season.
Liverpool will be desperate for Isak to stay healthy at the World Cup and have a proper pre-season, with the club relying on him to fill the goals void to be left by Salah when the legendary Egyptian departs this summer.
Earlier in the week, Slot explained that in signing any replacement for Salah, the club need to think about how Isak will benefit.
‘[Getting the most from Isak] is definitely part of thinking about the [Salah] replacement,’ he said.
Isak scored last weekend but his nightmare season has suffered another setback
‘Because since I have been here – and it is the same at a lot of clubs – it is mainly a left footer on the right and a right footer on the left.
‘I have seen Alex scoring also a lot from crosses which were played from the right, right footed, Trent Alexander-Arnold crosses, if you want to call them like that.
‘So that is definitely part of how we are looking at things, but we try to sign the best possible available player who we can afford.
‘Something else which also happens at certain clubs is: ‘OK, that is the best player in the world in that position, let’s try and get him.’
‘That is not how we work, we try and sign the best possible player who is available for us.’
