Experienced midfielder set for spell on the sidelines: time for the kids to step up?

During Saturday’s curtain raiser in the Premier League for Liverpool, they lost a very important part of their midfield.

31 year old Thiago Alcantara limped off worryingly in the opening stages of the second half at Craven Cottage while holding his hamstring.

With the Reds being held to a 2-2 draw by newly promoted Fulham, fans across the world will have been frustrated as well as full of dread at the extent of Thiago’s injury.

The immediate reaction online was that Liverpool should look to strengthen in the midfield if the maestro was to be out for a long period.

A big reason for this is the seemingly fragile nature of the majority of the Liverpool engine room.

Each and every senior Liverpool midfielder has had their fair share of fitness issues over the past few years.

Potentially due to the age of the majority of Klopp’s options in that particular position, numbers appear to be limited often.

With James Milner, Jordan Henderson and Thiago all being north of 30 years old, their best years of fitness may be behind them.

Contrastingly, Harvey Elliot and Fabio Carvalho are both 19 years old with Curtis Jones being 21.

This leaves Jurgen Klopp with three players in their prime years in football terms.

Unfortunately, Fabinho, Naby Keita and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain are all very injury prone with Keita and Oxlade-Chamberlain being absent more often than not.

Of these three players, Fabinho has been the only one available to start the season as Keita has been ill and Oxlade-Chamberlain is ruled out with an injury.

This leaves the Liverpool boss running the risk of fielding an ageing midfield or one that is too young to compete regularly in the Premier League and Champions League at the moment.

While fans are clamouring for new arrivals, Klopp has been firmin saying "Look, a transfer must make sense now and in the long-term; we have midfielders, we have still enough midfielders.”

With news breaking last night that Thiago would miss up to six weeks of action, it is yet to be seen whether the German manager will change his mind.

Fixtures are set to come thick and fast in the opening months of the season as the World Cup looms in November.

Should Klopp hold firm and stand by his current players, it may be time for a bit of youth and energy to be mixed in amongst the experience.

Youth and energy in the form of Harvey Elliott and Fabio Carvalho.

Both players came on and had an attacking impact on the game on Saturday.

Elliott was the first change made which may suggest he is slightly higher in the pecking order.

The key factor will be the other midfield options available.

Carvalho is comfortable playing on the left of a midfield three while Elliot tends to play on the right-hand side.

Depending on the other two midfielders picked, both young stars inject attacking flair and technical ability on the ball.

Harvey Elliot is the obvious choice as he linked up extremely well with Mohamed Salah on the right-hand side against Fulham.

His inclusion would add an extra goal threat that may not be there with a Thiago or a Henderson playing in this role.

Will Jurgen Klopp roll the dice in the transfer market or will he have faith in his youngsters to light up the Premier League?