Coutinho still some way from fitness, says Klopp

Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp says playmaker Philippe Coutinho has yet to resume training and is still some way off a first-team return.

The Brazil international, who has been sidelined since picking up an ankle injury in his side's 2-0 win over Sunderland on 26 November, set himself an initial return date of 31 December and the Premier League clash against Manchester City at Anfield..

However, Klopp says he will not rush Coutinho back to action and that the game against Pep Guardiola's side is too soon for a return to action.

"Unfortunately, we do not have him back in training. He makes his training, that is a big difference. Until we have him in training, there is absolutely no reason to think about when he is back," Klopp said at a news conference ahead of the visit of Stoke City.

"We cannot rush the situation and we do not want to rush it. We have to accept the more or less bigger steps in his improvement with this serious injury. It was not just something. It was a decent injury and is still, so we need to wait.

"Whenever he is back, the season is long enough that he can help us. We cannot rush it just because there are a few games now. That cannot have an influence on our decisions.

"A rehab with a professional football player is always on the edge. We cannot say if we do nothing it will take 10 days, and if we try something it will maybe be seven days or 12 if it is too much.

"Medicine is a lot about experience and all the players are different. He was on a very good way then it was a little bit more difficult, because of a reaction in the ankle, and we had to cool down the situation a little bit. But he is still on a good way.

"I do not think it will be, from this moment on, long-term still. But the game everybody is dreaming of, the City game for example, it was clear from the first second that this would be really unlikely, but it was the dream of Phil.

"So try to do it. In this moment, it is not more likely than before but I do not want to say it is not possible. We have to see."

Photo (Getty Images/ Clive Brunskill)

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