Liverpool star Oxlade-Chamberlain ‘likely to miss whole season’

Liverpool midfielder Alex Oxlade - Chamberlain is likely to miss the whole of the

forthcoming season , with the Premier League club saying Wednesday that they

were already aware of the grim scenario .

The 24 - year - old suffered multiple knee ligament damage during the first leg of the

Champions League semi - final against Roma in April and underwent successful

surgery eight days later .

“ The estimated length of his lay- off was not revealed at the time at the request of

Oxlade - Chamberlain , who did not want the news to distract from the Reds ’

ongoing Champions League run and the excitement surrounding it , ” said a

Liverpool statement 

Manager Jurgen Klopp told

liverpoolfc . com that he was

aware that the former Arsenal

star would likely be unavailable

for the 2018 / 2019 season.

!It feels like now is an

appropriate time to tell people

that for Ox this coming season

will be about focusing on

recovery and rehab , ” said

Klopp .

“ We have known this from pretty much the day after he got the injury and after

the successful surgery , we were sure of it . I hope everyone treats this information

responsibly . There has been no change , no setback – it ’ s exactly on the schedule

we expected and planned for. The new information is that we ’ re now giving more

detail publicly .

“ It is typical of Ox that he didn ’ t want the news to overshadow the end of the

season and , to be quite honest , we thought we could wait and tell people at an

appropriate time.

“ His recovery has started superbly well . If we do see him back this season it will

be a bonus . ”

Oxlade - Chamberlain joined Liverpool last summer from Arsenal in a £35 million

deal but the injury ruled him out of the Champions League final against Real

Madrid and the World Cup with England.

“ It is so important — because of how valuable and important he is to what we are

looking to do here in the coming seasons — that the focus is on doing this right

and not rushed . Ox is completely on board with this approach .

“ He is such an outstandingly good

person and someone who even when

not playing is integral to the

heartbeat of ( training centre )

Melwood .

“ I cannot wait to have him back with

us for matches , but we will wait for

him and we will show the patience

that is required to make sure he

comes back ready to continue where

he left off : as one of the most

outstanding performers in European

football in that moment . ”

Klopp has already boosted Liverpool ’s midfield ahead of the new season by signing

Naby Keita , Fabinho and Xherdan Shaqiri .