Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp has revealed that defender Dejan Lovren could miss up to three weeks due to a pelvic problem.
Lovren managed the long-standing injury issue throughout last season, making 43 appearances across all competitions to help the Reds to the Champions League final and a second successive top-four finish.
The Croatia international also helped his country to the final of the World Cup this summer, although Klopp confirmed that the rigours of the tournament in Russia mean that Lovren will need extra time to recover at the start of this season.
"He is not fit. Let me say it like this, last year he already had a few problems with that but he could obviously play - and played really good," he told reporters.
"Recovery days were always enough then it was not a problem and he was in the next session again. We did not train a lot in the end of the season, of course, because we were more or less constantly playing, but he played constantly.
"Now in the World Cup, [playing] three times [for] 120 minutes it got a bit worse, but I am pretty sure it will settle in the next one, two or three weeks. In that time he can probably for sure train already, but not the full programme, so that will then take time."
Liverpool got their 2018-19 campaign off to a winning start on Sunday with a 4-0 triumph over West Ham United at Anfield.
Barney Corkhill
