Confusion reigns over Dominik Szoboszlai injury timeline

A shock report in Hungary has claimed that Dominik Szoboszlai could be out for around four weeks with his current hamstring injury. However, there is debate about the true timeline for the midfielder's return.

Any absence for the 23-year-old would be a significant blow to Reds’ boss Jurgen Klopp, who has leaned heavily on the Hungarian captain since completing his £60m signing from RB Leipzig in the summer. 

A hamstring injury suffered in early January against Newcastle saw Szoboszlai miss four matches, including the FA Cup win at Arsenal, the Carabao Cup semi-final matches against Fulham and the Premier League win against Bournemouth. 

He came off the bench against Norwich in the FA Cup fourth round on January 28 before making a goalscoring return to the starting lineup against Chelsea last week. 

Liverpool were again without Szoboszlai for the weekend’s 3-1 defeat at Arsenal however with Klopp disclosing before kickoff that he had suffered a recurrence of the hamstring injury, after the Chelsea match, which ruled him out of large chunks of January. 

“Dom felt in the same area, or pretty much a similar area, to where he was injured before,” the manager told Sky Sports. 

“Not in the game, he was fine, and then after the game [he felt it] slightly so we had a look at it and there was now no chance for him to be involved in this game. 

“We cannot take any risk. We have to wait for further assessment but it was clear that he cannot be involved today. That’s it, pretty much.”

'Seven or eight games'

The club are yet to release any further information about Szoboszlai’s injury but a report in Hungarian outlet Index now declared that he could miss the 'next seven or eight' Liverpool matches, starting with this weekend’s league game against Burnley. 

“Although the club still hasn't announced the exact diagnosis, we know that according to the current situation, it is worth counting on a recovery time of about three to four weeks in the case of Szoboszlai,” the report stated. 

That time frame means Szoboszlai would miss the matches against Burnley, Brentford, Luton Town and Nottingham Forest in the league as well as the FA Cup fifth-round tie against either Watford or Southampton, and the upcoming Europa League last 16 tie set for the start of March.

Crucially, a four-week injury would also rule Szoboszlai out of the Reds’ first bid for silverware this season, with the Carabao Cup final against Chelsea taking place at Wembley on February 25. 

However, a later article from Index, stated only that the No. 8 "will not be able to play for an indefinite period of time."

Meanwhile, according to Hungarian journalist Ben Bocsak, Szoboszlai's injury is not as bad as being reported in his homeland.

He wrote on X: "The club will be careful with his recovery but from what I understand he won’t miss 3-4 weeks."

While Szoboszlai's official injury timeline is yet to be determined, Liverpool do have options in midfield once again, having welcomed back Thiago Alcantara after a ten-month absence in Sunday's defeat to Arsenal.

Wataru Endo is also back in training, having returned from the Asian Cup.