‘No chance’ - Jurgen Klopp rules three Liverpool players out of Man City clash but confirms two set to return

Jurgen Klopp has said there is ‘no chance’ that Luis Diaz will be available for Liverpool’s Premier League match against Manchester City.

The Colombian winger has not played since sustaining a serious injury against Arsenal in October but has returned to training this week as he steps up his recuperation. Despite that, Klopp said that, given the long injury lay-off, he won’t rush Diaz back for this weekend’s trip to the Etihad.

“Yeah, we have to be patient but it’s a massive boost anyway. It’s just nice to have the boy around because he is a super energiser, super-positive impact with just being around,” the German said on Friday.

“So, we will see. In training everything looks fine but of course he’s not in the squad for the weekend, there’s no chance. Next week will be an important week for him; this week he was doing parts of training, next week I think most of the things he can do. Then we will see. Maybe [ready for] Arsenal [next weekend] but more likely Leeds after that [on 17 April].”

Klopp also revealed in his pre-match press conference that Joe Gomez and Darwin Nunez are available for the game against City. "Darwin couldn’t train for two or three days this week still because of the cut he got against Real Madrid on his foot,” said the Liverpool manager. “But was yesterday back in full training so he is definitely in contention.”

While there was positive news on Gomez, Diaz and Nunez, Klopp gave a more frustrating update on Naby Keita, who picked up a fresh injury during the recent international break. “Yeah, we have [other injury concerns],” said Klopp.

“Naby is out, he came back with a muscle injury from the national team. We will see how long it takes but obviously the season is not too long anymore. There is a chance that Naby comes back but we have to wait a little bit.

“Thiago is in a good way but was not part of team training yet,” the former Borussia Dortmund coach added. “I think if things go well he will probably be part of next week’s team training, parts – [that] means we will see when he is back. I think pretty much the rest is available; all back. We had a little bit [of] stomach bugs here and there but [that] stopped two days ago so [we] should be alright.”