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Loris Karius Out for 8-10 Weeks With Broken Hand Suffered on Pre-Season Tour

​Liverpool have been hit with a vicious injury blow ahead of the fast-approaching new season, with the news that goalkeeper Loris Karius will be out for up to two months with a broken hand.

The German was thought to be edging ahead of Simon Mignolet in the race to take the gloves for the Reds' first game of the season at the Emirates in a fortnight's time, but Jurgen Klopp will be forced to go back to the Belgian stopper as Karius undergoes surgury to correct the damage, done when he inadvertently punched Dejan Lovren in Wednesday's friendly against Chelsea. 

Karius was out in the United States with the club on their pre-season tour, but the Liverpool Echo report that he will now fly back to the club's base to get treatment on the injury while Mignolet takes his place. 

The news will come as even more of a blow for the 23-year-old after he turned down the chance to go to this summer's Olympic Games with his country, putting himself out of contention for the German squad in order to make sure he was ready to go for the start of his club's Premier League campaign. 

He said at the time of the decision: "I spoke with the manager and we said that it doesn't make sense for me to go to the Olympics as I would miss the first two league games of the season and of course I want to play in them. We agreed together I wouldn't be going [to Rio de Janeiro].

"First I spoke with Jurgen and then together we spoke with the German people who wanted me to go. The priority is the club. It's more important that I am available for the start of the season."


The trip goes from hard to harder for the club's medical staff, following an unusually physical friendly on Wednesday saw Marko Grujic hospitalised with memory loss after a head injury while Ragnar Klavan was lucky to escape unharmed from a rash challenge from Cesc Fabregas. 


For more from Chris when he's not writing on 90min, follow him on Twitter at @ThatChris1209!