Adam Lallana could miss the first three months of the Premier League season after damaging his thigh in a serious blow to the player, Liverpool and England.

The midfielder was injured in the first half of Wednesday’s Audi Cup clash with Atletico Madrid in Munich. The worst-case scenario for Jürgen Klopp, the Liverpool manager, is that Lallana will be absent for three months, although the player has a history of coming back earlier from injuries and is hopeful of returning before that.

Yet the downbeat medical bulletin will leave Klopp without one of his most trusted players for the start of the campaign away to Watford next Saturday, as well as the Champions League qualifying play-off with Hoffenheim, away on August 15 and at Anfield