Virgil Van Dijk could be set for his first appearance in nine months after suffering an anterior cruciate ligament injury in October 2020.
The Dutchman has been a commanding figure in the heart of the Liverpool defence and his injury derailed the club’s chances of retaining the title or winning any kind of silverware last season.
Whilst he did not single-handedly transform Liverpool’s defence since his £75 million arrival from Southampton in January 2018, he played a huge part in the club’s success.
Prior to his injury, the Netherlands captain was an ever-present for the Reds. During the Premier League and Champions League winning campaigns he did not miss a minute of the league seasons.
The devastating injury last season also forced him to sit out of the European Championship this summer.
However, Reds boss Jurgen Klopp has confirmed that he is in contention to play on Thursday as the Reds take on Hertha Berlin in a pre-season friendly.
“I hope, I am not sure, that there is the opportunity that Virgil could play a few minutes,” Klopp told Liverpoolfc.com.
“He looks really good in training and maybe we can bring [him in], but I need to have some final conversations. He looks ready and we will see. If you see the games now as part of their rehab training, that makes sense.”
Klopp also added that Joe Gomez, another centre-back who missed so much of last season and had to sit at home whilst England reached the final of Euro 2020, could also be back very soon.
“Joey is very close. There is no race between the two of them; they had different injuries and stuff like this, but [he is] very close.”
“If Virgil can play now then probably Joey can in the game after. We will see. In training they both look really good.”
With Joel Matip also back and new signing Ibrahima Konate settling in well with his new team-mates, Liverpool are set to be a force again this season.
They will not have enjoyed seeing Manchester City take the Premier League trophy off them and you could place a strong bet that Liverpool will be going all out to win their 20th league title this season.