Oxlade-Chamberlain picked up the injury during the Champions League semi-final first leg against Roma

Liverpool’s optimism at agreeing a world record £66 million fee for the Roma goalkeeper Alisson Becker was tempered today by the news that Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain could miss the entire season during his recovery from a knee injury.

Jürgen Klopp, the Liverpool manager, said it will be a “bonus” if the midfielder appears competitively in 2018-19, but Liverpool today insisted Oxlade-Chamberlain has not endured a setback and that he had simply not wanted to publicise the extent of last April’s injury at the time because he did not want to distract from the club’s Champions League run.

Oxlade-Chamberlain suffered multiple ligament damage in his right knee when tackling Aleksandar Kolarov in the first-half of the semi-final, first leg, 5-2 victory over AS Roma. The decision to