Matip and Grujic return for clashes with Barcelona and Mainz
Liverpool will welcome Joel Matip and Marko Grujic back into their squad for this weekend’s double header with FC Barcelona and FSV Mainz 05, Jürgen Klopp has confirmed.
The boss expects Matip to figure in one of the fixtures at Wembley or the Opel Arena having been out of action since the Reds took on Wigan Athletic on July 17.
Grujic, meanwhile, sustained a blow to the head during Liverpool’s International Champions Cup fixture with Chelsea in Los Angeles that ruled him out of the subsequent matches against AC Milan and AS Roma.
However, the pair will be involved over the course of the weekend as Klopp takes the Reds firstly to Wembley and then to Germany in the space of two days.
The boss told a press conference at Melwood: “Both are involved again.
“With Marko we had to wait until the doc gave us the green light and said ‘go for it’ because of the kind of injury. It was not too serious, but we all more or less use our brain and he needs his for football. He has been back since yesterday and is available.
“Joel has trained for three days so he will be involved too. Lucas is still not available and Joe [Gomez]."
Meanwhile, Klopp admits Liverpool may still be involved in transfer activity before the close of the window at the end of this month.
He said: “I am long enough in football to know the final word we will say about this [transfers] will be on August 31. Until then, we have to always be ready to do something or to handle something, on the selling or buying side.
“I am fine - the squad is good. But [take] the centre-half situation, we have two or three players that made [pre-season], Joel Matip couldn’t do [play] that much but now he is back in training and I think – and hope – he can play one game at the weekend.
“Then, we have Mama with a problem, Joe Gomez with a problem and Lucas Leiva with a problem. It’s in one position. Of course, Lucas is a midfield player but he can play centre-half.
“It is like it is. We will see what happens with injuries and things like this, so always you need to be ready to find a solution. It [the transfer window] is not finished and so we have to wait until we can say ‘that’s it’.
“But for the moment and especially the first game – I think until the first game one or two things can happen – then still there are still two weeks to go.
“It’s professional football and you need to be ready.”