‘He could be available’ – Arne Slot teases huge injury boost for Liverpool ahead of FA Cup clash | OneFootball

Arne Slot has teased a potential return from injury for Florian Wirtz when Liverpool take on Wolves in the FA Cup on Friday night.

DOWNLOAD THE OFFICIAL EMPIRE OF THE KOP APP FOR ALL THE LATEST & BREAKING UPDATES – STRAIGHT TO YOUR PHONE! ON APPLE & GOOGLE PLAY

The German playmaker has missed the Reds’ last three matches since reporting a back problem prior to the recent win at Nottingham Forest, and his creative influence was sorely missed in our 2-1 defeat at Molineux earlier this week.

However, the LFC head coach has (albeit tentatively) hinted at the possibility of the 22-year-old being involved when the teams do battle for a place in the quarter-finals of the FA Cup tomorrow.

Slot teases potential Wirtz return against Wolves

When asked about Wirtz’s fitness in his pre-match press conference on Thursday morning, Slot replied (via Liverpool Echo): “He trained half-and-half with the team yesterday and made the next step in his rehab. Let’s see where he is today. He could be available for a few minutes tomorrow in the best-case scenario.”

The Reds boss added that, aside from those players still recovering from long-term injury issues, everyone else in his squad will be available for the cup clash at Molineux.

Will Slot risk Wirtz against Wolves tomorrow?

While Slot has raised the possibility of Wirtz returning to action on Friday night, his update was laced with cautionary notes, most notably that the ‘best-case scenario’ is a few minutes off the bench.

In that context, and considering that we have a daunting Champions League visit to face Galatasaray next Tuesday, we wouldn’t be surprised if our number 7 were held in reserve for the match in Istanbul in order to give him a few extra days’ recovery to ensure he’s at peak fitness for then.

Wolves would no doubt be very pleased if the 22-year-old doesn’t feature tomorrow, having frustrated Liverpool for long spells in their win over us earlier in the week as the German’s playmaking ingenuity was badly missed.

It’d seem to be a case of Slot only turning to Wirtz in the FA Cup tie if absolutely necessary, but at least this morning’s update indicates that the ex-Bayer Leverkusen man is on the cusp of returning to action for a Reds team in need of his game-changing qualities.