Jurgen Klopp has confirmed that Dejan Lovren and Marko Grujic may return to full training next week, following respective injury lay-offs.
Klopp and his Liverpool squad are currently training in La Manga, Spain, as they make the most of having no game until the trip to Leicester City on February 27.
Lovren and Grujic are the only two first-team players not to have travelled, as they continue to recover from respective knee and tendon issues.
Lovren’s last appearance came in the 1-1 draw with Chelsea at the end of last month, but Grujic hasn’t featured since the 2-0 League Cup victory at home to Leeds United in November.
Klopp is confident both players will join up with their teammates back at Melwood next week, as slowly but surely the Reds boss has a fully fit squad to choose from.
“That was the decision of the medical department,” Klopp explained on Thursday.
“Of course we have here exactly the same possibilities in the medical department and we have fantastic people at home and they can take care of the players [at home] and take care of them, which makes more sense.
“Hopefully, especially Dejan, [they] can come back to training after when we come back on Sunday, that would be great.
“Same for Marko Grujic, who is close but not close enough to make the sessions with us, and it’s not nice for a player when you’re close but you see this, so do your stuff and train [with the group] in the moment you can do it again. So that’s all, there are no other reasons.”
Lovren would be expected to return to the starting lineup against Leicester, if fit, although Lucas Leiva did well against Tottenham last weekend.
Grujic, meanwhile, has had a frustrating start to life at Anfield, and is unlikely to be a firm fixture in the squad this season.
After an impressive pre-season, in which he scored against Barcelona in the 4-0 friendly win, the young Serb has only managed five appearances.
He feels like a long-term investment rather than a current solution, and he will have to bide his time, with the likes of Jordan Henderson, Georginio Wijnaldum, Adam Lallana and Emre Can ahead of him in the pecking order.
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