Bradley Barcola was a notable absentee from Liverpool team training on Thursday, although fears of an injury to the winger have been played down by a reliable reporter.
The 24-year-old has featured in all nine matches the Reds have played since his £106m transfer from Paris Saint-Germain at the end of August, starting six of those and playing just under 75% of the total minutes from our last four games since the international window.
The Frenchman was used as a late substitute in the win over Villarreal on Tuesday, with Andoni Iraola mindful of not overloading him after such heavily involvement over the past fortnight.
Barcola absent from Liverpool training
In an update live on Sky Sports News just before midday on Thursday, Merseyside reporter Vinny O’Connor explained why Barcola wasn’t involved with the rest of the Liverpool squad at the AXA Training Centre.
He outlined: “There’s no Bradley Barcola but what we’re told is that he’s undergoing an individual recovery session at the moment…We are assured with Barcola that it’s a recovery session today.”
The reporter added that Victor Munoz, Jeremie Frimpong and Dominik Szoboszlai were also absent, along with longer-term injury casualties Hugo Ekitike, Conor Bradley and Giovanni Leoni.
(Photo by Julian Finney/Getty Images)
Want more Empire of the Kop coverage? Add us as a preferred source on Google to your favourites list for news you can trust
Barcola has played a lot of football in recent weeks
Liverpool fans might’ve been fearing the worst upon hearing that Barcola didn’t train with the team today, but O’Connor’s reassurance that the winger is likely undergoing a recovery session is welcome.
It must be remembered that the Frenchman went from not playing in seven weeks after the World Cup (and his transfer to Anfield) to then featuring in 13 matches in a row for club and country in the space of six-and-a-half weeks, accumulating 690 minutes of game-time (almost eight full games).
Thankfully for the Reds, they don’t play until Sunday, which gives them a bit more time to recover after a hectic run of four matches in 10 days following the international window.
Hopefully Barcola will be primed and ready for the weekend clash against an in-form Brighton side who’ve often caused big problems for Liverpool at Anfield. Iraola will need as many of his squad as possible for what’ll surely be a massive test.