Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp has admitted that it is "too early" to determine the extent of the injury which forced Mohamed Salah off in Egypt's 2-2 Africa Cup of Nations draw with Ghana on Thursday.
The 31-year-old - who has been renowned for his exceptional fitness levels and infrequent injury absences since joining Liverpool - was taken off just before half time in that four-goal stalemate.
Salah appeared to damage his hamstring, naturally raising fears about a potential spell on the sidelines and whether he could cut his AFCON campaign short to return to Merseyside for treatment, although Egypt boss Rui Vitoria played down the seriousness of his concern.
Klopp addressed the media on Friday morning ahead of Liverpool's Premier League trip to Bournemouth on Sunday, and while he confessed that Salah is undoubtedly suffering from "something", he refused to speculate on how severe his issue may be.
"We don't know anything. I spoke last night with him and how it is with these injuries, you need further assessment. That's what they are doing now and then we will know more. Of course, it was in that moment a shock: 'Oh my God, what is it?'," Klopp told the media.
"You couldn't see that it was like [being] hit by something with high-intensity, you couldn't see [that] and then going down, you have these kind of hamstring injuries in a different way but he still felt it and we all know how rarely Mo goes off or needs to go off so there is definitely something and we will see. But I have no more information right now."
When asked whether Liverpool could fly members of their medical team out to Ivory Coast to assess Salah themselves, the German replied: "We will see, that depends on the diagnosis.
"There will be an ultrasound and they will do an MRI and then we will know what it is and then we will see what Egypt plans. But it's too early [to say], sorry."
Alongside Salah and Wataru Endo - who is away with Japan at the Asian Cup - Liverpool have no fewer than eight players in the infirmary, including new knee victim Trent Alexander-Arnold, who suffered a painful hyperextension against Arsenal in the FA Cup.
Fellow full-backs Andrew Robertson (shoulder) and Kostas Tsimikas (collarbone) also remain absent, while there is no timeframe on the recoveries of Ben Doak (knee), Joel Matip (ACL), Stefan Bajcetic (calf) or Thiago Alcantara (hip).
There was optimism that Dominik Szoboszlai would be back from his thigh issue in time to tackle the Cherries, but Klopp has conceded that none of his injured troupe will be ready for the clash with Andoni Iraola's team.
"They are all positive but not ready. But they are all going in the right direction, getting closer and closer and closer. Some of them might be in kind of part of team training next week," Klopp added.
"But for the Bournemouth game I don't expect anybody back. I hope nobody [else] will be out until then. But after Bournemouth, maybe for Fulham, we will see how the boys do. But they are all close. Trent close, Dom close, Robbo close. All going in the right direction, that's all positive, but for the weekend's game, no."
With all of Alexander-Arnold, Tsimikas and Robertson out of contention, Conor Bradley will be expected to make his Premier League debut at right-back on Sunday, as Joe Gomez continues to deputise on the left-hand side of the Reds' backline.
The league leaders can move five points clear of Manchester City and Aston Villa at the top of the table with victory over Bournemouth, whom they have already beaten in top-flight and EFL Cup action this term. body check tags ::
