Liverpool have been dealt an huge injury blow with the news that midfield Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain will miss the whole of the 2018/19 season. 

Chamberlain suffered a knee injury during Liverpool’s Champions League semi-final victory over AS Roma back in April, and was forced to miss the remainder of the campaign.

The injury also saw him ruled out of this summer’s World Cup in which England reached the semi-finals for only the third time in the country’s history.

And Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp has now revealed the 24-year-old will is the majority, if not all of, next season.

“It feels like now is an appropriate time to tell people that for Ox, this season will be about focusing on recovery and rehab,” Klopp said.

“We have known this from pretty much the day after he got the injury.”

‘The Ox’ joined Liverpool last summer from Arsenal, and proved himself to be a key player in Jurgen Klopp’s side up until his injury in April.

Chamberlain featured in 42 of the Reds’ fixtures last term, scoring five goals and producing seven assists for his team-mates – however the Englishman will now have to wait to continue his promising career at Anfield.

“There has been no change, no setback – it’s exactly on the schedule we expected and planned for,” said Klopp.

“The new information is that we’re now giving more detail publicly. Typical of Ox, he didn’t want the news to overshadow the end of the season and, to be quite honest, we thought we could wait and tell people at an appropriate time.

“His surgery – which he had on the day of our second leg in Roma – has been completely successful and his recovery has started superbly well.

“But the truth of the matter is that we are preparing this season knowing he will not be with us on the pitch for competitive matches for the majority of it. If we do see him back this season it will be a bonus.”