Liverpool suffer double injury blow as young duo ruled out of opening clash at Fulham

Liverpool will be missing two of their rising young stars as they open their quest to win the Premier League at Fulham on Saturday.

Boss Jurgen Klopp has been hit with a double injury blow on the eve of the season, as two of the young players he has singled out for big roles during the campaign were ruled out.

Ibrahima Konate - who played his way into the Champions League final starting XI against Real Madrid in May, and also into the France senior squad, winning his first caps - picked up a knock in the friendly against Strasbourg.

Konate actually went down twice for lengthy periods with two different injuries during the warm up at Anfield on Sunday, with Jurgen Klopp revealing he didn’t think the problem was too serious.

But it has proved worrying enough for the Liverpool medics to rule him out of the opening game of the season, with Joel Matip now certain to play, after appearing alongside Virgil van Dijk in the Community Shield win over Manchester City.

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Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp is preparing his side for the clash at Craven Cottage on Saturday lunchtime (PA)

And Curtis Jones will join him on the sidelines, adding yet another injury frustration for the England U21 midfielder, who suffered a series of niggling problems last season, including an eye injury which kept him out for some time.

Jones appeared at the end of the game against City on Saturday, and was due to appear against Strasbourg the following day, but he felt a muscle issue, and the medical team decided to investigate further, according the manager.

That has seen the Reds rule out Jones for the visit to Fulham after further tests, with Klopp suggesting: “He wanted to play desperately, but then the medical department said no and that we needed to make further tests.”

Naby Keita will be in the squad for the visit to London, after recovering from a bout of illness which sidelined him last weekend, and Klopp suggested last weekend that keeper Alisson will have put in sufficient training time to start the Premier League season, after missing the Community Shield.