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Naby Keita is facing a race against time to be ready for the start of the season.

The midfielder has returned to Liverpool with his Africa Cup of Nations dream in tatters, after aggravating groin and thigh injuries during a brief appearance for his country Guinea.

Reds medics will perform fulls tests on the player on Tuesday when he reports to the club’s training facility, but the news seems grim, after an initial assessment with a club physio at Guinea’s training HQ in Egypt.

There were mixed messages from the Guinea camp yesterday, when a spokesman initially suggested the problem wasn’t too serious, but then confirmed Keita had aggravated an adductor injury that kept him out of the Champions League final.

(Image: AFP/Getty Images)

“He picked this injury up in the semi-finals of the European Champions League and he has been training and playing but never at 100%, and we have to think about after the Nations Cup,” Guinea press officer Mamadou Camara explained.

Keita’s presence at the tournament was shrouded in controversy from the beginning, when his nation’s coach Paul Put insisted he was fit to be involved, despite Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp insisting he wouldn’t be able to play until July.

Put demanded the player be released, and the Reds reluctantly agreed. But he wasn’t fit to start his country’s first game in Egypt where the tournament is being held, playing just half an hour as a substitute.

Keita did begin the second match, but limped out of the bruising clash with Nigeria after 70 minutes, with what seems an aggravation of the adductor problem, and a thigh issue.

(Image: Liverpool FC via Getty Images)

While Guinea say they expect him to return to Cairo after assessment on Merseyside - with their last 16 knock out tie due to be played on Friday - if the news is as feared, he will remain in the UK for treatment.

And if a fresh adductor problem is - as seems likely - confirmed, that will mean several weeks on the sidelines… putting his chances of being fit for the start of the season in jeopardy.

Even a three-week spell on the sideline would rule him out, because Klopp would insist in the player undergoing a full pre-season to fully test the injury before allowing him to play.

If the prognosis is more serious, then he could be out for a further month or more, which would mean he would be unlikely to be ready for action until towards the end of August.

That would be a huge blow for the player, who was hoping to make a bigger impact at Anfield this season, after his first year at the club following a £52m move from Leipzig was interrupted by injury and a loss of form.

(Image: Colin Lane/Liverpool Echo)

Liverpool meanwhile, have confirmed that midfielder Marko Grujic has rejoined Hertha Berlin on a second year-long loan… despite a late attempt from Brighton to hijack the deal.

The Reds will receive a £2m fee for the loan, after refusing to consider a permanent transfer for a player manager Jurgen Klopp insists will return to Anfield to play a big part in the club’s future.

Brighton made a late bid, but Klopp is adamant he sees the 23 year old Serbia international as a long term Liverpool player, and the English club refused to consider any bids for the player.

Instead, the manager believes another season out on loan will complete his development. In talks with the midfielder, Klopp has stressed that his plan is for Grujic to become part of the squad in the 2020-21 season.