Jurgen Klopp Frustrated By Joel Matip Situation
Joel Matip could miss a number of games as the uncertainty about his eligibility to play for Liverpool continues.
The defender was absent from the 1-1 draw with Manchester United in the Premier League last Sunday.
Matip was drafted in to the Cameroon squad for the Africa Cup of Nations, despite bringing the curtain down on his international career in September 2015.
Liverpool have contacted FIFA in an effort to get clarification over his availability.
They cannot allow the defender to play without Cameroon's consent during the tournament, and the football association are unlikely to clear him to compete for his club.
FIFA rules state: “A player who has been called up by his association for one of its representative teams is, unless otherwise agreed by the relevant association, not entitled to play for the club with which he is registered during the period for which he has been released or should have been released pursuant to the provisions of this annexe, plus an additional period of five days."
Jurgen Klopp has expressed his frustration at the ongoing row:
"As a human being it is hard for me. I accept rules in life, but I think they are based on human senses.
"For me it is pretty difficult. FIFA told us last Friday that they will decide if they open a case or not this Friday.
"If FIFA opens a case, and I do not think they will, then it would be between 7 and 10 days, in our situation that would have meant the games against United, Plymouth and Swansea.
"If the result is what we think it would be, and everything is okay, then he did not play eight games since January 2nd without doing anything wrong.
"The thing is that in this moment, we are sure we have done nothing wrong. Joel did nothing wrong, He did not play for Cameroon since 2015.
"In this moment he is not in the squad, but we have no 100% guarantee that he could play for us.
"It is really difficult to get in contact with the people. We know where we have to go, we can wait, but it is like with injuries, you have to try everything to be there a day earlier than we all thought was possible.
"We have a fit player, doing really well in training, who did not play for Cameroon in 15 months but we cannot use him. It is really difficult. "