Cody Gakpo is likely to be introduced by Klopp in the first minutes almost a month after recovering from a knee injury when Liverpool faced Toulouse, while Curtis Jones is also available
Jurgen Klopp has been handed a boost ahead of Liverpool’s game against Toulouse on Thursday, with Cody Gakpo fit and available after missing the last three matches through injury.
Cody Gakpo is back
The 24-year-old picked up a knee problem after finding the scoresheet during the Reds’ controversial 2-1 defeat at Tottenham last month and has not featured since. Gakpo sat out of the 2-0 success over Union Saint-Gilloise and the trip to Brighton before the international break, and also failed to feature in the Merseyside derby, despite training in the build-up to the game at Anfield.
But Gakpo is now raring to go and Klopp confirmed in his pre-match press conference he is available to face Toulouse in the Europa League. “Cody is in full training now since Sunday, which means he is available for the squad,” the Liverpool boss said. “Whatever we do with that we will have to see, but that’s good as well.”
Klopp will also be able to select Curtis Jones, who can feature in the Europa League as his three-match ban for being sent off at Tottenham only runs domestically. Jones will serve his final game of his domestic suspension this Sunday when the Reds entertain Nottingham Forest, after missing out against Brighton and Everton.
Jones had done superbly to cement a place in the Liverpool XI before his red card, with the midfielder starting the three previous Premier League matches. It comes as the 22-year-old spent a lengthy spell out of the squad at the start of last season due to injury.
Curtis Jones spoke to the media on Wednesday ahead of Liverpool’s game against Toulouse
Speaking ahead of the game against Toulouse, Jones said: “I had some time out, I think about 15 weeks, but it was the hunger I had to come back and play. The time I was out, the team wasn’t in it’s best phase.
“I saw a chance where I could help the team; I matured and my mind frame changed. I needed games; the most important thing was I was playing game after game after game.”
“If you play well, you can keep your place. If I’m not, they can change it, same for Dom [Szoboszlai], whoever. That’s just a world class club; you’ve got a squad full of world class players who can change a game.”
Despite having Gakpo and Jones available, Liverpool will still be without five first-team players in Thiago Alcantara, Stefan Bajcetic, Conor Bradley, Ben Doak and Andy Robertson, with Klopp confirming that the latter has undergone surgery on his shoulder.
Jurgen Klopp has received a timely boost ahead of Liverpool’s game against Toulouse
“Robbo had surgery and [it] all went well, as good as it could be, so the recovery starts after he wakes up,” Klopp added. “I think it happened this morning [Wednesday]. That’s it. We don’t know how long it will take or whatever, but the first step is done, that’s good.”
