Liverpool are still in midst of something of a mini injury crisis in their defence.
After the return of Alisson Becker, the Reds still have most of the key men at the back available to them.
But injuries to more back-up players – as well as Ibrahima Konate – have meant that Arne Slot has been stretched to the limit.
Another who has been missing for the past five games now is Kostas Tsimikas.
Tsimikas has been good this season and will have been frustrated to have picked up a problem during a Liverpool fixture list in which he would have gotten plenty of game time.
And with the schedule unrelenting, journalist David Lynch has shared whether Tsimikas – and Konate as well – will be back before the New Year.
(THE SUN OUT, THE SUN ON SUNDAY OUT) Kostas Tsimikas of Liverpool during a training session at AXA Training Centre on November 22, 2024 in Kirkby, ...
Photo by Nikki Dyer – LFC/Liverpool FC via Getty Images
Still unclear when Kostas Tsimikas will return
Tsimikas looked ready for a big chance in the team when coming off the back of the November international break.
However, after picking up an injury in training, he has missed that opportunity.
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It has not been clear exactly when Tsimikas will return, with Slot giving no specifics away during the intervening period.
Thankfully, Lynch has been on hand to dig for some further details. Speaking to Anfield Agenda, the reporter said that although Tsimikas’ camp had been ‘cagey’ on giving an exact date, the £12m man is expected back before the end of December.
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“I spoke to Kostas’ camp around this and they were a little bit cagey in terms of this is week to week he’s being assessed,” says Lynch.
“The expectation was he would miss this week and then maybe it could be somewhere around next week but it’s just about swelling going down, seeing what the pain is like.”
“It’s very much one which is quite hard to judge, so there’s not really a clear timeline on this. But I would expect him back before Konate I would say that. We are hoping for back end of December for that, so it should be soon.”
What about Konate?
Lynch obviously threw a little bit of information in about Konate being back before the end of December while assessing Tsimikas’ issue separately.
But the journalist did also go into a little more detail on what’s going on with Ibou himself.
“It’s not quite that five or six weeks that was touted,” he said. “There’s a real hope that he can be back before that.
“Hopefully the back end of December we see him rather than into January and what a boost that would be to get him straight back.”
That will still mean that Konate misses up to four fixtures for Liverpool, but it could have been so much worse. Let’s hope to see these two back and available in the coming weeks.
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