Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp has been handed a huge boost before the international break after revealing Sadio Mane is fit to take part in Saturday’s clash away to West Ham.
Mane has not featured for Liverpool since the start of October and was initially ruled out for six weeks with a hamstring injury, leading to fears he would not play again until mid-November.
However, the Senegal international returned to training earlier this week and Klopp has revealed the 25-year-old will be fit to take some part against West Ham this weekend.
“Sadio looked really, really good. We will see what we do with that,” The Guardian quote Klopp as saying on Friday.
“Yesterday it looked like he is ready for at least 20-25 minutes but we have to wait and see how his body reacts to the session because for him it was pretty intense; not because it was intense but because it was his first football session for a long time.
“He did really well, he obviously didn’t miss his abilities or skills during the injury break, so that’s good.”
Mane is due to jet off and link up with his Senegal teammates for their huge World Cup qualifying double-header against South Africa during the international break and Klopp believes that will only benefit his recovery despite only just returning from injury.
“We cannot ignore the situation of Senegal and say we don’t care if they play in the World Cup,” he continued.
“It is not right and not nice. Sadio is not injured any more. Is he 100% fit? That is different. He has to go there and if they can get the point they need then maybe we can talk again [to the Senegal FA] and ask if it necessary for him to play the second game and he can come back. That would be the ideal situation but we cannot decide it.
“If Sadio can play I really think he should because it is good to get some rhythm otherwise he would not have played for how many weeks. It would be nice.”
Mane has quickly established himself as one of Liverpool’s most important players since arriving from Southampton over 12 months ago and last season’s title challenge seem to collapse when he was unavailable.
Prior to injury, Mane had scored three goals in five Premier League appearances.
