Andoni Iraola has issued an encouraging update on the fitness of Dominik Szoboszlai, Alexander Isak and Cody Gakpo, but could not guarantee when they will return from injury.
All three players missed Liverpool’s 3-0 defeat to Manchester City at Anfield on Sunday, with Hugo Ekitike also still sidelined.
The Frenchman remains a long-term injury issues, not expected back till December, but the Hungarian, Swede and Dutchman will be back much sooner.
None of the trio will be involved when the Reds go to LASK in the Champions League on Wednesday night but there is hope they could return on Saturday at Brentford.
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If not, then the relentless schedule continues with the Reds hosting Villarreal in the Champions League on Tuesday October 20.
‘They are not bad but it’s difficult to tell right now,’ Iraola said on when Szoboszlai, Isak and Gakpo will return.
‘We are taking it day to day. Really the three of them, I don’t know if it’s going to be Brentford or Villarreal.’
Milos Kerkez was also on media duty on Tuesday for the Reds and dropped an injury update of his own on his compatriot Szoboszlai.
‘I don’t know if he is fit for Saturday. You’ll have to ask the gaffer that,’ said the left-back.
‘I know Dom and he doesn’t like to be out long. Knowing him, he wants to play every game and will want to play Saturday.’
With the three stricken stars, and Ekitike out, there is more demand on the misfiring pair of Florian Wirtz and Bradley Barcola.
Wirtz has struggled to make any kind of impact since his move from Bayer Leverkusen in the summer of 2025, while Barcola only arrived this summer but has had a very slow start.
‘It’s true Cody, Alex and Dom are the top scorers in our system. We don’t have them, we didn’t have them against City and we need those players to give us those numbers,’ said Iraola.
‘We trust the players we have now to play in those positions. Injuries with national teams will happen to all the teams.It’s a matter of adapting to circumstances.
‘[Wirtz and Barcola] have had good games and bad games like anyone else and they will give us good games.’