When Thiago Alcantara will return to Liverpool training as player 'progressing really quick'

Thiago Alcantara will not be back in Liverpool training until next month, assistant manager Pep Lijnders confirmed.

The midfielder has not played for the Reds this season. He underwent hip surgery last April but has continued to be plagued by his problem.

Thiago, who is out of contract at the end of the campaign, has returned to training on a couple of occasions but his recovery has hit setbacks. He will not be able to rub shoulders with the rest of Jurgen Klopp's squad until February along with fellow midfielder Stefan Bajcetic, who has played only twice in 2023-24 as the 19-year-old has suffered from growing pains.

In better news, Andy Robertson could return to full training by the end of the month. The left-back has been absent since having shoulder surgery last October. Kostas Tsmikas is also earmarked to be back around the same time, having made swift progress from the broken collarbone sustained in a 1-1 draw against Arsenal on 23 December.

Speaking ahead of Liverpool's Carabao Cup semi-final first leg against Fulham, Lijnders said: "Robbo, he's almost at the three-month mark, so he will get checked by the surgeon.

"And if he does that scan and we see everything [so] that we can really progress him, he will go to Dubai for a week to do proper volume sessions, proper sessions, so that will be good for him. Then we see the three-month scan and then we can see how quick he can go into contact again.

"Same for Kostas. Kostas is progressing really well, really quick. So hopefully both of them – Robbo and Kostas – will be back at the end of this month to train with the team.

"They (Thiago and Bajcetic) will not be ready for the end of this month. It will probably be going into the next month to train with us. But both [with] no complications, progressing."

Dominik Szoboszlai (hamstring) will miss the Fulham clash, but Virgil van Dijk is back in training after missing the 2-0 FA Cup victory over Arsenal because of illness.