Virgil van Dijk Injury Is Worse Than Expected, Set To Miss The Next Few Weeks Of Action For Liverpool.

Huge blow for Liverpool, as defender Virgil van Dijk has suffered a major injury blow, and he is set to miss out of action in the next few weeks.

The centre-back is to see a specialist to assess the extent of damage the hamstring injury he picked up during the club's 3-1 Premier League defeat at Brentford on Monday night.

Van Dijk who has played every single game for the Reds this season, played just 45 minutes of the game at the Gtech Community Stadium before being substituted out at the break.

According to recent reports, the issue appears worse than originally thought, and could keep him out on the sidelines for weeks.

There is no timescale on how long the Netherlands international will be out of action, which has now given a defensive headache to manager Jurgen Klopp, as he prepares to be without his key defender in an already fragile defence.

Following the loss to the Bees, Klopp said: "Virgil felt a little bit the muscle and said it is fine, and he is a very good judge of these kind of things. But I didn't want to take any risks.

"The physios looked quite happy when I said we don't take risks. It's not an injury, he just felt the intensity."

Other centre-back options for Liverpool are Joel Matip, Ibrahima Konate, Joe Gomez and Nathaniel Phillips. 

They have suffered numerous injury worries this season, and will hope Van Dijk's absence isn't too lengthy, with forwards Luis Diaz, Roberto Firmino and Diogo Jota all working their way to fitness having missed the majority of the season so far due to injury.

This led to the Liverpool board hijacking Manchester United's move to sign Cody Gakpo from PSV Eindhoven last week following an impressive World Cup performance for the Netherlands.

The Dutch striker is expected to make his debut in their FA Cup game this weekend.

Liverpool are currently sixth in the Premier League with 28 points, and seven points off the top four race. They face Wolverhampton Wanderers in the FA Cup third round on Saturday.

Their next Premier League games are away to Brighton & Hove Albion on 14th January and at home to Chelsea on 21st January, 2023.