Jurgen Klopp publicized that Thiago Alcantara and Stefan Bajcetic are close but can not come back yet.

Speaking ahead of the Bournemouth game, Liverpool’s coach Jurgen Klopp verified that Stefan Bajcetic and Thiago Alcantara are close but not yet available for tonight.

The Spanish duo did not play a single match pre-season and have been out of action since the latter half of last season. The good news is that both of them are back in start-team training. It is reasonable why they would take time to be match fit because of not taking part in pre-season proceedings.

Thiago had an issue with his hip while Bajcetic had a stress injury in March that ruled him out for the rest of the last season. They are both players who, if available, could have started against Chelsea and fared better than what the midfield at Stamford Bridge did.

Liverpool have signed rookie Wataru Endo to take over as a defensive midfielder. If he does qualify to play this weekend, it is believed Klopp will want to start him against Bournemouth.

While Alexis Mac Allister played well as a “Number 6” last Sunday, he stood out even more as a box-to-box midfielder with his ability to capture space between the lines and be able to break through the opponent’s defense with creative cross-line passes.

Having a midfield defender like Endo will allow strikers like Cody, Darwin and Dominik Szoboszlai to think about attacking before they have the ball. In the match against Chelsea, they had to go back too deep because Mac Allister did not play in the role of midfield to create a position that he is forte.