Jurgen Klopp has explained that the decision behind not registering Jon Flanagan for the knockout rounds of the Europa League was that Liverpool did not want to take any chances with the defender.

The 23-year-old, who recently returned to first team action with appearances against Exeter City and Stoke City in the FA Cup and the League Cup respectively, faced a lengthy spell on the sidelines after picking up a knee injury on his England debut against Ecuador in a friendly in June 2014, with Flanagan requiring two operations on his left knee to rectify the problem.




And with the season approaching its business end, games are going to come thick and fast; hence Klopp thinks the Europa League knockout campaign will come too soon for Flanagan as the right-back needs a minimum two to three days’ recovery time after each game he plays.

“With Jon, it was 18 months [out injured]? So the best news is that Jon is involved, back in the race and back on the pitch. That’s really good”, Klopp told the club’s official site.
 


“But in this moment, it’s like it is – it’s really early after his injury, so we always have to be careful when he’s playing.

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“I always get the [medical] advice, and Flanno needs two or three days’ recovery [after games] – not because he thinks he needs [it], but only because of the seriousness of the injury.

“And so I had to make decisions with the European squad. It’s not my hobby to disappoint players, especially not Flanno who has done nothing wrong until now.

“But it’s three games a week. We will have two more games in the Europa League for sure, but hopefully a lot more, and they’re always between other games.

“We’ve had a problem with Martin Skrtel [getting] re-injured, he needs another two or three weeks, and so in the centre-half and offensive situations we’ve had our problems and in the end, you cannot believe how difficult it is to make a European squad.

“It is always difficult because you think of this player, or this player, but in this moment with Flanno’s history this year, the decision was like this.”

Flanagan, whose present deal with Liverpool is set to expire in the summer, has thus far made 44 appearances in all competitions for the club, scoring once.