Naby Keita has been named in the latest Guinea squad - despite Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp indicating the midfielder will be sidelined for an extended period through injury.
Keita hasn’t featured since the Community Shield win over Manchester City in July having followed a bout of illness with a muscle problem.
Concerns over the severity of the damage were raised when the 27-year-old was last week left out of the Reds’ squad for the Champions League group stages.
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And Klopp subsequently admitted the player will be “out for a while” as he recovers from his latest setback.
Guinea have nevertheless named Keita in the squad for their forthcoming friendly matches against Algeria and the Ivory Coast at the end of the month.
However, the ECHO understands the player will not feature in the games as he continues his rehabilitation. Guinea boss Kaba Diawara, though, believes Keita could be back in a fortnight.
“His situation is improving and he is even ahead of schedule,” he said. “We took a group of 24 players precisely to give him a chance to be able to count on him because he is a very important player for us, on and off the pitch, he is our captain.
“We are monitoring his situation very closely. We still have a little over two weeks before our first game. Chances are we could get him back by then.”
Keita faces an uncertain future at Anfield given talks have stalled over a new deal with less than 12 months remaining on his present contract.
And reports in Germany last month claimed the player was unhappy with his game time at Liverpool, although the Reds had not received any feedback from the player or his representatives suggesting as such.
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