(Football news) Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp has revealed that Virgil van Dijk is sidelined for more than a month due to a hamstring injury sustained in the 3-1 defeat against Brentford. This means that the defender won’t feature in Saturday’s FA Cup match against Wolves or the Premier League fixtures against Brighton, Chelsea and Wolves. The Reds have many injury concerns with the likes of Luiz Diaz, Arthur Melo, Diogo Jota, Roberto Firmino, James Milner, Jordan Henderson and now Virgil van Dijk.

Virgil was a surprise to us. It was a big blow. He didn’t feel a lot. I took him off, it was not clear that maybe he would have tried [to play on]. The diagnosis was pretty harsh. We talk about weeks, more than a month but I hope it goes quickly. I hope it goes quickly, we’ll have to see. For now he’s not available, that’s how it is and we have other centre-halves. Everything is okay for the team but for Virgil it’s hard for him. He’s played an incredible amount of games over the years. We cannot use him on the pitch but off the pitch we will do that.”

“He (Cody Gakpo) is in contention. He will be involved in the squad, of course. How exactly we will have to decide in the next few hours, but that’s fine. Cody has been in two full training days now and is a joy to watch, to be honest. In our situation with injuries to the strikers, it’s really nice to have a guy on the pitch who is pretty natural in a lot of things and knows where the goal is.

“He is obviously full of joy, enjoying each second at the moment. He looks really promising and fit. The sessions are intense for him because they’re different. I’m very positive about him. Coming from a new league is always difficult, but we expect a positive impact.” – Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp

Also read: FA Cup round 3: Tottenham Hotspur host Portsmouth; Liverpool take on Wolves