"It looks good:" Jurgen Klopp provides tentative but encouraging update on injured star's timeline until return

Jurgen Klopp has provided a cautious estimate for when Arthur Melo will return to the field for Liverpool after missing a significant part of the season through injury.

The Brazilian has been sidelined with a thigh injury since October but the manager has suggested he could return to full training.

Having undergone surgery on the injury, it's understandable that he has missed so much football.

When asked by a journalist at his Friday press conference ahead of this weekend's FA Cup fourth round clash with Brighton, Klopp replied: “I would say pretty good. He’s running a lot.

“If everything is well I think two, three weeks maybe until he can join team training. But it looks good for a while already.

“It was now a long injury, so he needs a proper buildup. He was not a part of team training or whatever, not at all.”

News of his return has been met with mixed reactions. Some are relieved that he can soon help ease the burden on Liverpool's few remaining fit midfielders.

Others are frustrated at the lack of impact he has been able to make due to his untimely injury.

Injuries have been so disabling this season with just about every player missing a game with some issue or another.

That said, Liverpool must find a way to put together a run of form and that change needs to come from the players as much as it needs to come from Jurgen Klopp himself.

There are far too many incredibly talented players in this side to be playing this poorly without any of that quality shining through.

It's a holistic dilemma, however, as the attack isn't getting the support it needs from midfield but neither is the defence. But at the same time, all of Liverpool's defenders have underperformed this season.

The player at the back that has come through this period with any grace has been Alisson Becker. The Brazilian has been, at times, the only standing between Liverpool and a lower table position in the Premier League.

Hopefully, Arthur and co. can recover soon and get back into the side so that Liverpool can try and salvage something from this campaign.