Exclusive: Liverpool star receives injury blow just fives days into pre-season due to knee inflammation 

Joe Gomez sat out of Friday's outdoor session in Austria but he continued his work indoors and was absent merely as a precaution.

The English defender tore his patellar tendon while on international duty with England in November last year and hasn't played a minute for Liverpool since.

He underwent corrective surgery and earned himself some nasty scars in the process but is not likely to be fully fit for the start of the season.

This isn't news to the Liverpool medical staff as Ibou Konate was brought in with the expectation that he would partner Virgil van Dijk at the heart of the defence for the start of the season.

However, he is battling with swelling around the knee that sustained the damage and the decision was taken on Friday for him to miss the outdoor session.

Inflammation is the body's way of dealing with stress whether it's an infection or ligament and muscles tears but it's not good news if it lingers.

While there are no tears or damage to the tendon at the moment, Gomez is still working with the club's physios to build up the strength and stamina in his tendon to the level it was at before.

The reason he has having a tougher go of things when compared to Virgil van Dijk, who suffered an ACL tear in October, has to do with the difference in the knee injuries.

As Dr. Rajpal Brar explained to Anfield Central at the start of May: “The patellar tendon is an active mover and takes on significantly more load than the ACL (which is a “passive constraint”, it’s not contracting rather just passively stretching to control knee joint stability).

“It’s a really strong tendon that’s important to basic knee movements so that’s why it’s a tough injury to deal with.”

Fortunately, Liverpool seem to have been expecting this and he has been having scheduled checks every morning before training to ensure he is ready to take part in the day's sessions.