Liverpool injury latest: Virgil van Dijk, Dominik Szoboszlai and more

Liverpool Injury News: Virgil van Dijk, Dominik Szoboszlai and Ryan Gravenberch Under Fresh Scrutiny Liverpool go into the international break with three points in the bag and a familiar problem hanging over them, availability. The 3-1 win over Crystal Palace steadied things after defeats to Arsenal and Fenerbahce, but that does not change the bigger issue. Andoni Iraola has bodies missing, bodies half-fit and bodies being sent around Europe for international duty when the fixture list is about to turn ugly again. Next up is Manchester United at Anfield on November 22, a match Liverpool should be targeting with absolute clarity. United being down in the relegation zone changes nothing for Liverpool. If key players are absent, the game becomes harder. That is obvious. Iraola knows it, and his public line has been simple enough, get through the break without any more damage. He said: “Dom definitely wasn’t 100 per cent in the second half. Let’s see. The last thing we need now is to lose players in the international games. “In the last international break we lost three very important players in Alex (Isak), Cody (Gakpo) and Dom. So now I’m praying, it’s the last thing we need.” Virgil van Dijk fitness concern grows Start with Virgil van Dijk, because when the captain pulls out of the Netherlands squad, people notice. He had been selected by new Dutch head coach Xavi for games against Greece and Germany, then withdrew on fitness grounds. The official explanation was straightforward enough: “Virgil van Dijk and Brian Brobbey have been dropped from the Dutch national team’s upcoming international matches. Both players did not return fit from the past weekend’s matches and are therefore unavailable. “The squad thus currently consists of 23 players.” Liverpool will hope this is caution rather than crisis. Van Dijk has carried heavy minutes before and usually gets on with it. Still, a withdrawal is a withdrawal. You do not pull your captain from international duty for no reason, especially with Nations League fixtures on the schedule. Right now, the sensible assumption is that Liverpool are managing a problem rather than dealing with a major setback. Potential return date: Manchester United (H), Sunday November 22. Dominik Szoboszlai and Ryan Gravenberch leave Liverpool short in midfield This is where it starts to bite. Dominik Szoboszlai came off against Crystal Palace with a knee complaint and was clearly struggling before that. Iraola admitted as much. Hungary will assess him after he joined up, which is hardly ideal from a Liverpool point of view. It means uncertainty continues for a player who remains central to the team’s midfield balance, intensity and forward running. Then there is Ryan Gravenberch, absent for Liverpool’s last two matches with a heel issue. There had been some expectation he might make the squad at Selhurst Park, but that never happened. Iraola had already explained the problem in blunt terms: “The only doubt we will have is Ryan. The others will be the same as we have been. “The Ryan Gravenberch thing is a day-to-day thing, it’s a matter of pain. Let’s see if he can deal with the pain and he can help us.” That sounds manageable until you remember he has also been left out by the Netherlands for this break. If the pain is enough to keep him from club and country, Liverpool are dealing with a genuine doubt, not a minor inconvenience. Put Gravenberch and Szoboszlai together and the picture is clear enough, Liverpool’s midfield depth is being tested again. Potential return date for both: Manchester United (H), Sunday November 22. Jeremie Frimpong, Conor Bradley and Giovanni Leoni recovery latest Jeremie Frimpong remains on the list after suffering a muscle injury against Brentford. It was another setback in what has already been a stop-start period since his arrival from Bayer Leverkusen. He is out of the Netherlands squad as well, which follows the current pattern, if there is any doubt, players are being held back. Iraola said of the full-back: “Jeremie Frimpong is obviously a new muscle injury and it happened, I think, in the second or third minute he was playing, difficult to predict and we will have to wait until he recovers. “But it’s going to be difficult, I think, before the [November international] break. We will try but it’s going to be difficult to have him.” The expectation is that Frimpong is not far away, and Liverpool would welcome that given the longer-term absence of Conor Bradley. On Bradley, the tone is more optimistic now. After serious knee damage suffered at Arsenal in January, he is edging back towards proper involvement with the squad. Iraola said: “[He is] doing very well. I think [he is] in a good place. Conor is not so far from training with the group, not like full training but doing some things with the group. “I think Conor is not very far from starting doing things with us.” That points to a December return if the final steps go smoothly. Giovanni Leoni is on a different timeline altogether. Signed from Parma for around £26 million, he has barely started his Liverpool career because of a serious knee injury suffered in the Carabao Cup against Southampton in September 2025. An ACL tear was only part of the damage. Iraola explained: “It’s taking more time than we wanted. The planning was to train with the team in this past international break [but] probably it’s going to be in the next international break, so we’ve lost one month in the process. “Giovanni’s injury, I wasn’t here but talking to the medical department, it was not just an ACL, it was a bad injury, a lot of things around the knee were involved apart from the ACL.” Leoni is not expected back until December 2026. Hugo Ekitike return could ease Liverpool attacking burden One player who could still make a difference before the year is out is Hugo Ekitike. He has not played since rupturing his Achilles against Paris Saint-Germain in April, an injury serious enough to cost him the end of last season and the World Cup. His inclusion in Liverpool’s Champions League squad raised eyebrows because it suggested the club believe he can contribute sooner rather than later. At the moment, the working target is a comeback before the turn of the year, with December a realistic window. That matters. Liverpool have already seen what an injury pile-up can do to rhythm and selection. Ekitike returning would not solve every problem, but it would give Iraola another attacking option at a stage of the season when squads start to creak. So that is where Liverpool stand. Van Dijk, Szoboszlai and Gravenberch are the immediate concerns. Frimpong is close, Bradley is progressing, Leoni remains a long-term case and Ekitike could yet offer a timely boost. The international break gives managers time to think, but not much control. For Liverpool, that is the problem.