Liverpool suffer fresh injury woe as Ibrahima Konate sent home from France duty

Ibrahima Konate has been sent home from international duty due to injury concerns. The defender remained on the bench against Azerbaijan and will not travel to Iceland.

The Liverpool defender arrived injured at Clairefontaine and has been unable to recover in time to play a role for Les Bleus in World Cup qualifying. Konate was forced off the field in the Reds' last Premier League match against Chelsea.

Didier Deschamps' side are due to fly to Reykjavik on Saturday evening ahead of facing Iceland on Monday. The decision has been taken for Konate not to join the team on that trip as he continues his recovery.

The ex-RB Leipzig player had been undergoing an individual treatment programme for a thigh injury. Now, the question is whether he will be fit for Liverpool's clash with Manchester United next weekend.

The Frenchman trudged straight down the tunnel early in the second period of Liverpool's defeat against Chelsea, leaving Arne Slot with a shortage of central defenders. Curtis Jones replaced the 26-year-old, with Ryan Gravenberch moving to join Virgil van Dijk in the backline.

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Slot had alarm bells ringing over the knock but was hopeful Konate had been replaced quickly enough to avoid a problematic issue.

"I don’t know if it is a big injury, but what I do know is he limped a little bit and when I asked him he said he felt his quad a little bit," said the Dutchman. "Then, for me, all alarm bells go off because in another sprint you never know if that is going to go good.

“It was also already a substitution I had in mind, maybe for a few minutes or a little bit later, because the right centre-back had a lot of ball possession and we needed to create from that position. We all know Ryan [Gravenberch] is quite good in that.

“It might be OK that he went off early enough but it was clear I had to take him off because he was limping.”

Konate was deemed fit enough to join his national side, but it appears he is still struggling with the same problem. Joe Gomez could yet deputise, but he was not chosen from the bench against Chelsea after returning from injury himself.

Liverpool have already seen Giovanni Leoni ruled out for the rest of the season after tearing his ACL on his full debut. The Italian youngster put in an impressive Carabao Cup display but saw his outing overshadowed by the traumatic injury.

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