Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp has confirmed that Virgil van Dijk is unlikely to play again in the current season with the Dutch defender still recovering from his knee injury. The former Southampton center-back has been out since mid-October after he suffered a knee ligament injury against Everton.

Liverpool’s injury problems this season have been well documented with the Reds losing not one but two key center-backs in the space of a couple of weeks. First Virgil van Dijk suffered a potentially season-ending knee ligament injury after which Joe Gomez also suffered the same injury while on duty with the England national team. That has forced Jurgen Klopp to re-think his defense with Jordan Henderson and Fabinho deputising alongside Nathaniel Philips, Joel Matip, and Rhys Williams.

However, with Matip also now ruled out for the remainder of the season, it forced the club’s hands as they signed not one but two center-backs on transfer deadline day. But with hopes high that Virgil van Dijk will make his recovery before the end of the season, Jurgen Klopp has admitted that he doesn’t believe that is likely. The German confessed, in an interview, that “no doctor has really told me there’s a chance for Virgil to play in this season again.” He added that it’s not “absolutely impossible” but it’s “not likely” either.

“I don’t want to say that’s absolutely impossible but it’s not likely. It’s not likely. We don’t have to discuss these things really. If we have space we would put them all on, even when all the medical people tell us there’s no chance. We put them on because we believe in miracles from time to time.

“But if there’s no place then we have to consider these kind of things and say, ‘The chance is not too big so we have to make the decision.’ But if they are on the list then it’s only because we hope for nearly a miracle. That’s it.”