Jurgen Klopp has admitted Liverpool may need to sign a central midfielder after Thiago Alcantara suffered a hamstring injury against Fulham on Saturday afternoon.
Klopp has previously resisted calls to dip back into the transfer market after signing Darwin Nunez, Calvin Ramsay and Fabio Carvalho at the start of the window. The Reds are currently linked with three central midfielders - Borussia Dortmund's Jude Bellingham, AC Milan's Ismael Bennacer and Sporting Lisbon's Matheus Nunes.
Thiago limped out of Liverpool's 2-2 draw at Craven Cottage, adding to Klopp's injury woes. Curtis Jones, Naby Keita and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain all missed the Premier League fixture. Keita is expected to be back soon, but the rest could be out for a while.
Saturday's game was difficult for Liverpool. Aleksandar Mitrovic opened the scoring for Fulham before Darwin Nunez equalised, his first goal in the Premier League. Mitrovic then converted from the spot, with Mohamed Salah snatching a point for the visitors.
Klopp was asked about Liverpool's need for a new central midfielder at full-time. "I knew this would come up," said the Reds boss.
"It's clear we said we don't need a midfielder as we have enough. We actually do have enough.
"The problem now is we have been punished for something which is not our responsibility. Things like this can happen. There's nothing we could do about this. Naby is ill and maybe he'll be back next week. Oxlade-Chamberlain is out.
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"With Thiago, it's not good but we will see. A transfer must make sense, now and in the long term. We still have eight midfielders, just some of them are injured at the moment. It's not a good situation at all, but we won't panic. We have to see how we react."
Speaking before Thiago's injury, Klopp said Liverpool would not make any panic signings. The Reds are also without Diogo Jota, Caoimhin Kelleher, Kostas Tsimikas and Ibrahima Konate. "We have too many injuries, that's true," Klopp told reporters on Friday.
"But nothing has changed [in terms of new signings]. Unlucky situations. We started with Diogo getting a re-injury. Kostas was unlucky in a training situation. He might be ready to train next week which is helpful.
"Ibou [Konate] in a challenge v Strasbourg, we have to see how long it will take but he's out for a while. We cannot solve the problems we have with a transfer. At the moment it makes no sense to us. But the transfer window is still open and we will see."
Prior to the match, Klopp has also complained about the World Cup taking place in the middle of the season and the impact that could have on player welfare.
"The problem is the players who play the World Cup and it's just not okay, but it was decided a long time ago for everybody says the right reasons and that's it," he said.
Klopp added: "Everyone knows it's not right... the most important part of the game is the players. Everyone has their own interest and that doesn't make it easier and this World Cup happens in the wrong moment for the wrong reason but everything is fine."
