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Cape Town - Liverpool
have been dealt a blow on the eve of the new campaign after manager
Jürgen Klopp confirmed Loris Karius has suffered a broken hand.
The 23-year-old, who was signed from Mainz 05 in the off-season for a fee of £4.7 million, is now facing between six and 10 weeks on the treatment table.
However, the Reds are relatively well stocked in the goalkeeping department, especially after signing veteran Alex Manninger on a free transfer recently.
As such, Simon Mignolet and Manninger will battle it out for a starting berth in Karius' absence, while youngster Shamal George could also feature.
"It's not too cool, of course," Klopp told reporters. "You never want to have an injured player and the problem with injuries is that they're always at the wrong time - there is never good timing with injuries.
"It's not cool for the boy, it's not cool for us, but it can't be changed so we have to take it.
"We have another three goalkeepers and everybody knows about the quality of Simon Mignolet, so [that's] all good and he's made a really good impression in the first few days since he's been back in training.
"We have the very experienced Alex Manninger and the very young Shamal George. That's now the situation. It could have been worse - everybody knows a broken bone in the hand for a goalkeeper is not the best thing to have.
"It could have been worse, but six, eight, 10 weeks - whatever it takes in the end - it's not the longest period, but it's not too good of course."
