Liverpool manager Andoni Iraola has said it will be "impossible" for Joe Gomez to be fit for the start of the new season after the defender picked up a muscle injury in pre-season.
Gomez limped off during the club's opening friendly in Nashville last week. Iraola estimated the injury would keep him out for roughly a month, leaving Liverpool critically short of senior centre backs ahead of the campaign.
"Joe has a muscle injury," Iraola said. "It was quite clear since he complained straight away so he will be some weeks off. Normally one month. If it goes very well, then a little bit less. If it goes bad then a bit more but it's a muscle injury."
He added: "It will be impossible to have him for the start of the season because we are not so far away."
Captain Virgil van Dijk has returned to Liverpool but is absent from the pre-season tour. Centre back Jeremy Jacquet has yet to feature, and Giovanni Leoni is still in rehabilitation from a cruciate ligament injury.
With senior options exhausted, Iraola has turned to teenagers Mor Talla Ndiaye and Ifeanyi Ndukwe, both 18, at centre back. Ndukwe cannot play competitively this season due to work permit issues. Left back Luke Chambers, who spent last season on loan at Charlton, has also been pressed into service.
The pair featured in friendlies against Sunderland and Wrexham, and Iraola said the results had impressed him. "A lot of players have surprised me, especially the young players I did not know before," he said. "They have given a very, very high level in these friendlies."
Iraola also confirmed he wants his wingers to be able to operate on both flanks. Paris Saint-Germain left winger Bradley Barcola, valued at around 140 million pounds, has been identified as a top transfer target.
Dominik Szoboszlai, who signed a new five-year contract this month, was complimentary about the new manager. "He is very good, the intensity we need is here now," the Hungarian said.
