Liverpool goalkeeper coach John Achterberg says Alisson Becker is progressing well from his calf injury but is unsure when he will return to first-team action. Alisson has been out since pulling up with a calf injury in the first half of the opening-day win over Norwich City on August 9 but he is back in training and is making steady progress.
The Brazilian has been mostly working hard in the gym for the past few weeks and all is going as expected in his recovery but Liverpool remain tight-lipped on how much longer they expect the first-choice keeper to be on the sidelines for.
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So far, the former Roma man has missed the majority of that opener against Norwich and the subsequent three Premier League games that have followed, but he’s been using the current international break to work hard in training and has recently started working outside again in the next stage of his recovery.
Achterberg is satisfied with Alisson’s development and has provided an update on his situation on the Liverpool website. He said: “Ali has been working with [rehab fitness coach] Dave [Rydings] in the gym a lot to improve the strength and try to keep the fitness levels up. In the last few days he has been out on the pitch to do some catching and footwork, as well as small passing drills.”
Before the international break, Reds boss Jurgen Klopp refused to put a date on when he expects Alisson to be available and Achterberg is staying similarly coy, even if the general feeling is positive.
Achterberg added: “He has made steady progress, but it is difficult to say how long it will take or how it will progress. It needs time and we cannot look too far ahead, so we take each day as it comes, see how he feels, and then make progress from that.”
Liverpool have coped well without Alisson so far, winning their first four games to sit top of the table, with free signing Adrian slotting in in goal in his place. The Spaniard made a mistake to allow Danny Ings to score in the 2-1 win at Southampton last month before keeping his first clean sheet in the 3-0 victory at Burnley last time out.
