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Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp has dismissed suggestions he has rushed Sadio Mane back into the first-team too quickly following his summer exploits.

Mane helped his Senegal side reach the Africa Cup of Nations final, where they eventually lost to Algeria, and thus was playing competitive football up until July 19.

Despite having a shorter holiday than the vast majority of players Mane came on as a substitute in Liverpool's Premier League opening day win over Norwich and has been involved in every game since then too.

This led Sky Sports pundit Jamie Carragher to suggest Mane could suffer from burnout, and the ex-Liverpool defender wrote in his column for the Telegraph : "Mane has become so important that Klopp is reluctant to leave him out and let him have a rest."

(Image: REUTERS)

However in response to this Klopp said: "I would love to hear Jamie Carragher if I had left Sadio out. The punditry is a world class business - I have to think about if I don’t do that after my (management) career, because you can say whatever you want and you always put a finger in something."

Klopp brought Mane off after 77 minutes of the Reds' 3-1 win over Arsenal at the weekend, and insisted he is monitoring the 27-year-old's fitness situation.

"I think if I am 100 per cent right then Sadio doesn’t have to go away on international duty with his national team after Burnley which will help him, and then after that we have a full week to prepare the next opponent," Klopp continued.

(Image: EMPICS Sport)

"With him at least. Others players will come back later, Tuesday, Wednesday, but yeah of course we have an eye on it, but unfortunately we are responsible for making a decision how often they can go.

"You have to ask the players and that’s an important thing as well - as long I see in their eyes they really want and I see the session in midweek. It’s not about having only two weeks’ break, it’s about having that intensity always."