Jurgen Klopp has confirmed that Sadio Mane is available for selection in Liverpool’s Tuesday night clash with Chelsea, but admitted he is unsure whether he will be able to feature.
A source told ESPN on Sunday that the club had provided a private jet in order to bring Mane swiftly back to Merseyside from the African Nations Cup.
Senegal were eliminated from the tournament in Gabon at the quarterfinal stage on Saturday evening, after a distraught Mane missed the crucial penalty in a shootout with Cameroon.
The 24-year-old will return home on Monday night and report to Melwood on Tuesday morning, where Klopp will assess whether he is in a suitable enough condition to play a part at Anfield.
“He is now on his way. That’s good,” Klopp told a news conference on Monday afternoon. “We actually thought it would be possible yesterday.
“We had the plane there but he was not allowed to go in the plane, so we had to wait and bring the plane for A to B. Now it’s all good and he will be here tonight at some point and then we have to see.
“I spoke to him. It’s all good so far, but he will be in tomorrow morning and then we have to make a decision.
“In this moment, I have no idea. I [have to] look into his eyes [and] see whatever is possible with him and then make a decision.”
Liverpool have only won one game since Mane’s departure, and last week lost three home matches, while they crashed out of two cup competitions and a 10-point gap opened up between them and Premier League leaders Chelsea.
“He’s a quality player,” Klopp added. “It’s easier if we have him in the team and, in minimum, around the team. That’s fair.“But it’s not that he can decide games by himself or we should expect this.
“It was a strange situation in the Senegal game against Cameroon. I wish not for a second that he would miss the penalty but, at the end, it happened. So he is coming back and is kind of an option for the Chelsea game. We have to see.
“But then he is back at least for the Hull game, so that’s good for us. We have a very good player back for selection, it’s good news — nothing else.”
Meanwhile, Klopp said that Adam Lallana is fit to return for the encounter with Antonio Conte’s side, while Nathaniel Clyne still remains a doubt with an abdominal issue.
Klopp also revealed Ovie Ejaria will spend a lengthy period of time on the sidelines after the 19-year-old suffered a lower-leg injury during Saturday’s defeat to Wolverhampton Wanderers in the FA Cup.talktruenaija.blogspot.com
“Lallana trained, Clyney no,” he continued. “Adam is fine for selection. With Clyney, we have to see again.
“It’s difficult. We would love to force it but we can’t, so we have to wait. Yesterday he made a running session with Andy Kornmayer [fitness coach], so it’s about adapting more and more to the pain he obviously has. If there’s a risk to make it worse then we cannot take the risk. We have to see.
“Ovie played obviously with a ruptured syndesmosis. I don’t know how it works but he got the knock in the first half. At half-time he got treatment and everybody was asking if it was good.
“I couldn’t see anything in the second half and he woke up the next morning and it was like this [makes ‘big’ gesture with hands]. Now he is, obviously, out for a while.”
No comments:
Post a Comment