Arne Slot expects Tuesday’s trip to Wolves to be “too early” for Florian Wirtz as he recovers from a back injury, but there remains hope of an imminent return.
Wirtz was again absent as Liverpool played out a 5-2 victory over West Hamon Saturday, having pulled out of the warmup in the previous weekend’s 1-0 win at Nottingham Forest.
Slot had initially expected his No. 7 back to face the Hammers but revealed the situation was worse than feared when speaking pre-match.
And in his post-match press conference the head coach gave another update, with it seemingly more likely that Wirtz is available for the second of two trips to Wolves next week.
“I think that will be too early but I said last week I didn’t expect him not to be available today,” Slot said when asked about a comeback for Tuesday’s Premier League clash.
“Sometimes with an injury things can develop in a positive or negative way.
“Now we are thinking it doesn’t have to take too long, but Tuesday will probably be too early.
“The week after will be tight – as things stand now. But as I said, I thought he would be available for today as well.”
Clearly Liverpool are not ruling out Wirtz’s involvement in the next two games at this stage, but with the league game on Tuesday followed up by an FA Cup fifth-round tie at the same stadium on Friday it is understandably tight.
More realistic may be the first of two legs against Galatasaray in the Champions League last 16, with the Reds heading to Istanbul for an early kickoff on March 10.
Wirtz is the only short-term injury in Slot’s senior squad at present, with Wataru Endo undergoing surgery earlier this week to join Alexander Isak, Conor Bradley and Giovanni Leoniamong those sidelined for the long term.
Jeremie Frimpong made his return after a month out on Saturday and played a key role in getting the win over the line, with his cross forcing an own goal from Axel Disasi to make it 5-2.
Having Frimpong back available is a major boost and particularly so with Wirtz out, as it frees Dominik Szoboszlai up to continue in his advanced midfield role.
Leave a Reply