Luis Diaz is poised to give Liverpool a huge boost ahead of their defining week by returning to first team training.
The Colombia international has not played since damaging knee ligaments in a 3-2 defeat at Arsenal last October. He was expected to be sidelined for three months but, during a winter training camp in Dubai, he suffered a reoccurrence and ruled out for a further 14 weeks.
Liverpool have missed Diaz, who was a revelation last season following his £50million switch from FC Porto – his arrival was the catalyst for a prolonged spell of outstanding form that almost carried the team to a Quadruple.
Jurgen Klopp has been anxious to get the 25-year-old back in the fold and has been closely monitoring his progress for the past month but Liverpool’s manager has been determined not to ask too much, too soon of Diaz.
However, Diaz cleared a significant hurdle last week when he joined in sessions with the Academy players and, given there have been no adverse reactions, he will be able to step up and join the first team squad at Kirkby.
His return could not be better timed, as Liverpool face a crucial run of games immediately after the international break starting with a trip to Manchester City on Saturday – it might be possible for Diaz to be on the bench – before they face Chelsea then Arsenal.
Klopp knows that sequence of fixtures will determine whether Liverpool will have any chance of finishing in the top four and, speaking last month, he expressed his belief that Diaz would have a major say on Liverpool’s fortunes.
‘It's a different situation to last season,’ said Klopp. ‘He came here having played all the games for Porto pretty much and now he's out with an injury for the second time.
'I can tell you the two sessions he had with us in Dubai, it was like: “Oh my God, how good is that!”
‘Then he was injured again. When he is back, he will be really good and very impactful, of course. That is clear.
'How quickly, I don't know. We have to see. That's the big challenge in these moments. There's no time for being patient but you have to be patient.
‘I'm positive about him that there's a good chance to have a real impact in 10, 11, 12 games maybe.
'We will see how long it exactly takes. It's estimated that maybe next week he will be warming up with the team and then maybe a week later being in team training. That would be cool.’