Liverpool defender Virgil van Dijk is in contention to make a return from a long-term injury in a pre-season friendly against Hertha Berlin on Thursday.
Van Dijk, who has been out of action since suffering a knee injury against Everton at Goodison Park in October, may feature against the Bundesliga side at Tivoli Stadion in Innsbruck.
Speaking to the club’s official website, Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp spoke about the possibility of the Dutchman earning game time in the friendly, as well as Joe Gomez, who has been out of action since November.
“He looks really good in training and maybe we can bring [him in], but I need to have some final conversations. He looks ready and we will see.”
The manager added as quoted by Liverpoolfc.com: “If you see the games now as part of their rehab training, that makes sense.
“Joey is very close. There is no race between the two of them; they had different injuries and stuff like this, but [he is] very close.
“If Virgil can play now 20 then probably Joey can in the game after. We will see. In training they both look really good.
“I think from time to time there are some pictures of them from training sessions and everyone can see how good it looks, but there is no rush for us. It is not about they now need five pre-season games to be ready for the start or whatever.
“It is a long season and we prepare them after these very, very serious injuries for the rest of their careers and not for the first game of the season.
“Losing a little bit of patience for them to return as a supporter or as a coach even is not bad, it just means they were pretty good and we want them to be back in the team.”