Joe Gomez has joined Liverpool’s growing casualty list while on England duty.
Gomez sustained a knee injury in training with his country on Wednesday ahead of their friendly with the Republic of Ireland later this week.
The defender withdrew from the Three Lions’ squad to return to Merseyside, where he will be assessed by the Reds’ medical team in the coming days.
Gareth Southgate confirmed Gomez’s absence from the national side but refused to speculate on the prognosis of the 23-year-old’s latest injury.
He said: “I can’t tell you how serious it is because he is yet to have scans.
“What was upsetting to see, he was in a fair bit of pain. There was nobody around him when the injury happened. I didn’t like that element of it.
“But we’ve just got to wait and see what the scans show. We’re all hopeful for him that it’s not what it might be.
“But it’s not a good situation. I don’t see him being involved in the games with us, that’s for sure.
“We can’t speculate the exact nature of the injury. It’s not possible until we’ve seen scans.
“My immediate thoughts are with him. He’s had some difficulties with injuries in the past.
“We’re hoping and praying it is not going to be a long-term one. We’ll just have to see.”
Gomez becomes the third member of Jurgen Klopp’s backline to succumb to injury in recent weeks alongside Virgil van Dijk and Trent Alexander-Arnold.
Alexander-Arnold picked up a hamstring issue in Liverpool’s draw with Manchester City last Sunday which is expected to sideline him for up to four weeks.
Van Dijk, meanwhile, faces a prolonged spell out of action following an ACL injury in a collision with Jordan Pickford during last month’s Merseyside derby.