Scottish defender Andy Robertson, injured in a shoulder in the selection, is heading for an operation and will therefore be unavailable for “a certain time” with Liverpool, his coach Jürgen Klopp announced on Friday.
The Scotland captain suffered an injury last week during the 2-0 defeat to Spain in Euro 2024 qualifying, before withdrawing from Tuesday’s 4-1 friendly loss to France.
The player and the club have made the decision “to move towards an operation”, Klopp said on Friday, on the eve of the Liverpool derby against Everton in the league on Saturday (1:30 p.m.). “There is a small chance that we can try without it, but speaking with almost all the experts, it seems that surgery is the best thing to do, especially in the long term,” the coach said at a press conference.
“That means he will be out for a while,” added Klopp, without being able to be more precise. “It’s a shoulder operation so not exactly the easiest. In my experience you can train quite quickly but not for pure football, because you have to be careful about contact and all those kinds of things.”
Robertson, a 29-year-old left back, started the first eight days of the championship. He should be replaced by Konstantinos Tsimikas.
The Greek defender “is undoubtedly the most experienced in this position, but he cannot play every match,” said Klopp, involved in the national cups and the Europa League, in addition to the Premier League. “But we have Joe Gomez who can play in this position, we also have Luke Chambers and other young people who regularly participate in training.”
Liverpool are fourth, three points behind leader Tottenham ahead of the 243rd Mersey derby against Everton, sixteenth and winners of just one of their last 25 league meetings.