Liverpool star and four others to miss upcoming internationals after infection outbreak

Liverpool’s Cody Gakpo is set to miss out on the upcoming international games for Holland after an infection broke out in their national squad.

Gakpo, along with Newcastle’s Sven Botman, Bayern Munich’s Matthijs de Ligt, PSV’s Joey Veerman and Liverpool-target Bart Verbuggen have all left Holland’s training camp this morning, as revealed by the national team’s official social media account.

Ronald Koeman’s squad are set to face off against France and Gibraltar as part of their qualfication for Euro 2024, but will have to do so without those five players.

Koeman has called upon Bayern Munich’s Ryan Gravenberch, Vitesse’s Kjell Scherpen and Inter Milan’s Stefan de Vrij as late replacements.

It’s also a sad turn of events for the young goalkeeper Verbuggen who, at 20-years-old, had just received his first call-up to the senior squad.

As reported earlier this week, the Anderlecht keeper is being eyed as a potential replacement for Caoimhin Kelleher.

Starring at the World Cup with three goals in three group games, Gakpo will be a big miss for the Netherlands as they square off against the might of France in Paris.

Also in their qualifying group are Greece and Ireland in Group B, as they are strong favourites to qualify in one of the two top spots in the group which will ensure qualification for the European Championships which will take place in Germany.

In other injury news, Darwin Nunez was forced to withdraw from international duty with Uruguay earlier this week with a cut ankle, but he is expected to make a recovery in time for the away trip to Manchester City after the international break.

In addition, Luis Diaz and Thiago could both return in April; Diaz has been out for over seven months whilst Thiago is battling a hip injury which has kept him out of the last eight games.