Liverpool are in the midst of a midfield injury spree and two of the most long-term cases, seem to have been upset by a recent decision made by the club.
It was reported that both Naby Keita and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain would not feature in this season’s Champions League group stage squads, due to the current injuries they are both suffering with.
Reacting to this news (writing for CaughtOffisde), Fabrizio Romano provided the following update: “There was some eye-catching Liverpool news yesterday as both Naby Keita and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain were left out of the club’s Champions League squad.
“I believe that next summer both players will evaluate their future. Keita has already had opportunities in the summer but Liverpool wanted to keep him because Klopp considers him an important player in the rotations.”
Taken on face value, the decision for both men to be omitted from the squad is surprising but when it’s understood that it’s because they’re both injured – that surely makes a lot of sense.
Due to the Qatar World Cup, all the European matches will be completed by early November and so that means we can now expect both players to be out for around two more months.
If that isn’t the case and the duo are in fact fit and ready to play much sooner than that, then this supposed decision to evaluate their future would make more sense.
Jurgen Klopp wouldn’t want to waste a space in the squad on a player who wasn’t fit and this was probably also a big reason in the signing of Arthur Melo.
For Stefan Bajcetic to also be selected too, it shows that we are a little light in the midfield area for the group stages but will hopefully have enough to get into the knockout rounds – where we can hopefully see our No.8 and No.15 back in the squad.
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Both are huge talents but sadly dead horses. We should sell them asap, they are not fit enough for PL.