Liverpool’s Loris Karius breaks hand and is ruled out for two months

• Germany Under-21 suffers injury after punching Dejan Lovren
• Injury hands Simon Mignolet a fresh chance

Posted Saturday, July 30, 2016 by theguardian.com

Liverpool’s Loris Karius breaks hand and is ruled out for two months
Liverpool's Loris Karius punches Dejan Lovren during the Chelsea friendly and breaks his hand.

Liverpool's Loris Karius has been ruled out for two months after breaking his hand – while punching his own player.

The Germany Under-21 keeper cost Liverpool £4.7m when he arrived from Mainz in May and was immediately handed the No1 jersey by the manager Jürgen Klopp.

However, after suffering the injury during the 1-0 friendy defeat by Chelsea in Pasadena, when he collided with Dejan Lovren, Simon Mignolet looks to have been given a stay of execution at Anfield.

The Belgium international has been the subject of intense criticism since his move from Sunderland in 2013 after a number of high-profile mistakes. However, he signed a new five-year contract in January and now, with Karius out of the picture, will start the Premier League season as Liverpool's No1.

Karius flew home from the United States home on Friday and will have surgery on the broken hand. The 23-year-old had started each of Liverpool's five pre-season friendlies and only conceded one goal – Gary Cahill's header at the Rose Bowl.

Karius turned down a place in Germany's Olympic squad to fight for a starting place at his new club but Klopp will now have to turn to the 39-year-old former Arsenal man Alex Manninger, signed from Augsburg on a free transfer, as his backup.

Fellow new signing Marko Grujic was also taken to hospital on Wednesday to be treated for concussion after a clash of heads with Chelsea's Bertrand Traoré. He will not play any part against Milan on Saturday and is unlikely to face Roma on Monday in St Louis.

Another new face, Georginio Wijnaldum, who flew out to join the squad last weekend after completing his £25m move from Newcastle, is set for his first appearance in a Liverpool shirt against Milan.

The England pair Daniel Sturridge and Nathaniel Clyne could play their first part in pre-season against the Rossoneri after returning from extended leave following Euro 2016. The players remained at the club's Palo Alto training base for extra sessions rather than travel for the game against Chelsea but both are now working with the main group. Mignolet, Divock Origi and Christian Benteke are slightly further behind in their programmes and could be involved against Roma.