It’s been a case of one Liverpool player in and another one out in terms of their international involvement this weekend.
Jurgen Klopp did his best to help out his former club by dividing his Germany squad into two for their quadruple header of UEFA Nations League matches, with Florian Wirtz included for the latter two games.
However, as per The Mirror, injuries to Jamal Musiala and Kai Havertz in the Nationalmannschaft’s 1-1 draw against Netherlands on Thursday has forced the ex-Anfield boss to draft in the Reds’ number 7 (along with Jonathan Burkardt) for tomorrow night’s fixture against Greece.
One Liverpool player brought in as another misses out
While the 23-year-old has received a sudden call-up for the game in Augsburg, his Liverpool teammate Rio Ngumoha will play no part for England in their Nations League opener against Spain tonight.
As reported by The Mirror, Thomas Tuchel had called up 24 players for his Three Lions roster for this window, one more than the permitted maximum for a matchday squad, and the teenage Reds winger is the unlucky player to be cut.
With no fresh injury concerns to report from training on Friday, it left the manager needing to pick someone to omit for the game against the world champions.
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A nervous wait in store for Iraola and Liverpool
The injuries to Havertz and Musiala could have an unfortunate knock-on effect for Liverpool if Wirtz ends up playing one more match than expected in this international window and isn’t as fresh going back to Merseyside as originally anticipated.
Knowing Klopp, it wouldn’t surprise us if he held the Reds’ number 7 in reserve against Greece tomorrow, but the tactician’s hand could yet be forced and he might have no choice but to call upon the 23-year-old.
Meanwhile, Ngumoha is most unlucky to be the England player cut from the matchday squad to face Spain, even if the teenage winger almost certainly wouldn’t have started at Wembley.
He could get another opportunity as early as next Tuesday when the Three Lions are away to Croatia, so while the 18-year-old is consigned to a watching brief tonight, he must ensure that he’s ready for any scenario which could see him called upon by Tuchel in the coming days.
For Iraola, it might yet be a nervous week of seeing how his players come through their national team duties ahead of a frantic sequence of nine games in 29 days once the club season resumes in a fortnight’s time.