After pulling up with a hamstring strain during Liverpool’s pre-season tour of North America, winger Lazar Markovic faces a race for fitness ahead of the Premier League season and could very well miss the Reds opening match against Southampton at Anfield.
The Serbian, who traded Portuguese Europa League runners-up Benfica for the English giants in a £20mil move last month, is set to sit out Liverpool’s final warm-up match of what was an eventful summer when they face Borussia Dortmund at home tomorrow. With the season set to start next weekend, the 20-year old could very well be watching from the stands rather than making his competitive bow in front of the Kop — a fate that’s also befell fellow summer recruit Adam Lallana.
The former Southampton captain injured his keen in training as the Reds prepared for the Guinness International Cup in North America and has been ruled out until at least early September. While it’s expected that Markovic will be fit to return to action shortly, his absence — coupled with concerns over Daniel Sturridge’s own hamstring problem — leaves Reds boss Brendan Rodgers with a bit of a dilemma up top.
England’s newly appointed Number Nine left the USA early after feeling some tightness in his hamstring, and though the club labelled it purely precautionary, growing concerns linger over how prepared he is to see out a year that will not only include both a gruelling Premier League schedule, but also Champions League engagements. Should the likes of Sturridge and Markovic be unable to make the bench for the season opener, Rodgers will have to look to Rickie Lambert and Raheem Sterling to pick up the substantial slack left behind.
