Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp has revealed that he sent Kevin De Bruyne a get-well message after it was announced that the Manchester City playmaker is to miss three months through injury.
Man City's Player of the Year for 2017-18 injured his knee in training last week and is expected to be ruled out until the final month of the year.
Despite Liverpool potentially benefiting from De Bruyne's layoff, Klopp did not celebrate the news when it emerged last Friday, instead describing it as an "awful" situation.
"You hear about Kevin De Bruyne and you think 'wow'. No-one needs that. It's awful news. To be honest he was never my player but I love this player," he told reporters. "It's really s*** news to be honest and it always can happen.
"We talk in this moment but at 6pm we have training and everything can happen. You need to be ready to sort that. How many days did we have like this in the last few years.
"We talked last year probably about our good squad and then probably the next day someone tells me Phil [Coutinho] wants to go to Barcelona, whatever. You have it for a minute and then it's gone. We need to really enjoy the moment but we constantly prepare the solution for problems we don't have.
"I wish Kevin from the bottom of my heart that he'll be back as quick as possible. I've heard it could have been worse, that's always good news and I hope we can see that in a few days at least."
De Bruyne scored eight goals and set up another 16 during City's title-winning campaign.
