Klopp offers reassurance to injured Gomez

New Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp confirmed on Thursday that defender Joe Gomez has sustained an anterior cruciate ligament injury, but urged the teenager not to be disheartened.

Gomez, 18, injured his right knee while playing for the England Under-21s against Kazakhstan on Tuesday and is likely to miss the rest of the season.

“The information about young Joe Gomez is not the best,” said Klopp, who begins his Liverpool tenure with a Premier League game at Tottenham Hotspur on Saturday.

“He came back here and I met him for the first time. What a wonderful young boy: tall, muscles in the right positions, but he has an injured knee, an ACL.

“We have to make a further diagnosis and we will see when he gets operated on, but from this point on he can count the days until he comes back.

“It was not the best day in his life, but he is a young guy and I am pretty good at waiting for players, young players especially. This is his home and we will do everything to help him come back as soon as possible.”

Klopp will also be without striker Christian Benteke (hamstring) and forward Roberto Firmino (back) for the trip to Spurs, but says they could return in time for next weekend’s home game with Southampton.

“Benteke and Firmino are on their way back, too,” the German told a press conference at Liverpool’s Melwood training ground. “They are back on the pitch, but not team training.

“I do not know exactly when they come back, but next week we can see how fit they are. For sure not Saturday and I don’t think Thursday (at home to Rubin Kazan in the Europa League), but maybe next Sunday.”