Jurgen Klopp delighted by Liverpool footage amid ‘huge’ claim – pundit
Frank McAvennie has insisted the return of Virgil van Dijk, Roberto Firmino and Diogo Jota will be a sigh of relief for Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp.
Speaking exclusively to Football Insider, the former West Ham striker insisted the return of the trio will benefit other players like Darwin Nunez.
As seen in footage shared by club media (9 February), Van Dijk, Jota and Firmino were all back training with the rest of the squad ahead of the Merseyside derby on Monday (13 February).
Jota has been absent since October whilst Firmino picked up an injury in December and Van Dijk has been missing since the beginning of January.
Klopp has been forced to use Joel Matip and Joe Gomez as his centre-back pairing after Ibrahima Konate also picked up an injury.
When asked if having the trio back in training will be a big sigh of relief for the German boss, McAvennie told Football Insider: “Even just having one of the back would be good.
“A 50 per cent Van Dijk is better than the rest of them. Matip looked like a rabbit caught in headlights. Van Dijk does not let players go past him, and that is a good centre-half.
“Jota scores goals for fun. Just having Firmino’s movement and touch, it would be good for Nunez.
“They are missing [Sadio] Mane, that was a huge loss. But Firmino will help players around him.
“I do not think they are far away but you can see Jurgen is not happy.“
In other news, according to sources, Liverpool are holding internal talks over selling ‘superstar’ for £50m+ fee.