The type of injury he’s had is referred to as a potential career ending one in some circumstances. Recovery time can regularly stretch longer than 12 months. With his prior major injuries I think we need to err on the side of caution with our hopes and expectations on his return.
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Not arguing but is that your judgement or have you read / heard that somewhere?
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My judgement is he’ll probably be working his way back to full fitness and form over the first half of next season. But far too many are assuming he’ll be back, match fit, in form from match day 1 next season. I think we need to be careful over that assumption especially talking about squad strength for next year. But have seen some refer to the injury as a career ending one and lists of past players that took over a year to recover from. I’m not really good on injuries so it just concerns me when seeing stuff like that.
He’s already back in the gym and there was some speculation he might even be able to play some part this season, although I doubt they risk it.
At this point there’s no reason to believe or even speculate that he won’t be able to contribute next season. If you Google “patellar rupture recovery time” it states it’s typically 6 months but some people report needing up to 12 to get fully back to fitness. I’m guessing this is what that particular guesswork is being based on.
Of course, not all those people would be able to commit to their recovery full time, have access to the best medical and fitness experts and every fitness machine going available to them night and day.
There’s no reason at this stage to think it’ll be 12 months but understandably until we have more updates from the club it’s best to err on the side of caution.
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Probably actually when you reflect on the amount of injuries he’s had and how serious each have been sadly.
That’s why I think it’s Konate + another (hopefully Kabak).
I highly doubt Milner is an option for right back next season, half expecting him to take up a coaching role soon.
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Thanks. I’ve not really heard or seen much (not paying attention I guess) so having some factual back up to try and understand our thinking behind the Konate interest.
It feels like we’re really looking to strengthen that area of the squad which likely means some of the current crop leaving or having plans in place for less playing time. A penny for Klopps thoughts on those things.
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I just think Klopp will think “fuck this shit we’re not running out of CBs again” and sign everyone he possibly can. Kabak and Konate are both in their very early 20s - shouldn’t be a hard sale to them to say van Dijk and Matip aren’t going to be around forever.
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Edwards: So, which CBs do you want?
Klopp:
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Bit off thread but dear god that’s a great film!!!
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Millie remains a midfielder, but I see him as out 3rd (or potentially in specific games as 2nd RB/LB backup, depending on style/form/circumstances). Certainly before Gomez. On the rest, yeah, we’ll see if he’s ready to close his playing career and take up a role at the Academy (if the offer is still on the table). Considering how he looks playing for one of the best European sides, I suspect he might want to play for another two seasons or so somewhere else and then maybe return to us as a coach.
Nah, I’d expect to hear that “paranoia” from fans, not the coaching staff. I think we always underrate the manager’s wish not to have too many senior players. I mean, it’s not like it’s impossible for us to find ourselves with 5 senior CB’s when the market closes rather than 4. It wouldn’t be catastrophic by default. People can still get injured over pre-season, not look right, we can struggle to sell players (like the deal broke down with Nat Phillips last summer, although he’s not really a bother if he stays). That opinion can still change between now in April and later on in coming months. We still don’t know the result of this season, European football or not, CL football or not, trophy or not. But as things stand, I think we’ll feel okay with 4 CB’s. And I doubt we’ll have the finances to play with “let’s activate Kabak’s clause and just make a profit on him next summer”.
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No. I’m saying Toure = Kabak is a ludicrous comparison.
If the club sign both Konate and Kabak, then next season it’s a three way tussle between them and Gomez to see who partners Van Dijk, providing Virg makes a full recovery.
The question marks over Gomez and Van Dijk probably mean that both Konate and Kabak are happy to fight for starting places and back themselves to get plenty of games.
But providing Virgil and Joe do come back, Kabak won’t be happy about a long term future as the fourth choice centre back. He’s 21 years old, not 31.
But that a decision for another summer - by that time Kabak might have nudged Gomez down the pecking order.
And where this leaves Joel Matip, is anyone’s guess. He is certainly not moving on for the 10m quid you think we can get for him.
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I think here we’re still in a situation where it’s Virgil + whoever of the 3. You’re never too far away from being our 2nd CB if you’re 4th on paper (and that’s partly our problem in last years, rotating the 2nd CB too much, not having a stable enough partner for Virgil - that remained and remains our mission). Though of course, in last 2 years, Lovren played the least amount of games (something like 30 games in 2 seasons and on the contract of an important starter, selling him was not a problem, quite the opposite, but not replacing him was). Not every 21-year old is in the same situation either. I think Kabak would want the Liverpool challenge (trust in himself to see how many minutes he can earn alongside Virgil), considering the previous club level he’s coming from. He’s a full international and likely to remain so even if he doesn’t start games here every week. See where it takes him for about 2 years. It will be more up to us if we judge we need him and on what cost.
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At the end of the day its VVD and 1 other and its up to those 3 to fight it out (Gomez, Kobak and Konate) as Matip will be let go.(if Kobak dont sign then we will keep Matip)
The problem with Matip and Gomez is they never have an injury for a week or so, its always 2-6 months or season ending injuries.
After this season Im just happy to have a solid CB base. If 2 aren’t happy about being starters then do more in training and if you’re not happy at the end of next season you can move on.
Kobak is 21 so if signed you’d expect him to be back up and that leave the other 2 to fight it out. I cant see us splashing £35-40m on Konate and leaving him on bench…but…with our CB luck who knows which 4 will be starting…Probably Williams and Philips by October!
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Maybe giving Matip 5 years after Madrid was too much, even if he played his best football in 2019. That’s why I always say we should be careful what we wish for. It’s not really Barca-stupidity when they gave Pique a contract last summer until he’s 38, but let’s think a little bit. To let Matip go or “announce his sale” is easy. But to find a buyer is a different issue!
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Probably not, Van Dijk with 1 leg is still the worlds best central defender…
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To let Matip go would require us paying up the remaining three years on a contract worth £100k a week, so we won’t be doing that.
Finding a buyer for him when he’s not even likely to be fit until after the season starts means we probably need to get our heads around the fact he will be here next season in spite of whatever else occurs.
My concern with Gomez now is this particular injury. The issue is not so much the time scale for full recovery, but how complete a recovery you can make. It’s likely he’ll be available by the beginning of the season, but it’s the sort of injury that despite being game ready he’ll possibly have to have his workload very conservatively managed to avoid flare ups in the muscle. If that’s where his recovery takes him, it’s not the sort of thing that will likely be meaningfully better in another 12 months…it’ll be a limitation he keeps with him for the rest of his career.
I think we really need to think of him and Matip as only half a CB for next season, which makes 2 CB signings a very reasonable proposition.
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I think this is a good point. Gomez took a while to recover from previous big injuries, so the club would probably err on the side of caution even if this injury alone didn’t warrant it.
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