Thiago Alcantara and Stefan Bajcetic are close to being back, but Jurgen Klopp says that they are not back yet.

Jurgen Klopp, the manager of Liverpool, said before the game against Bournemouth that Stefan Bajcetic and Thiago Alcantara are close to being ready but are not yet.

The two Spanish players didn’t play any preseason games and haven’t been on the field since the end of last season. The good news is that they are both back in training with the first team. Since they didn’t play in pre-season, it makes sense that it would take them a while to get ready for games.

Thiago hurt his hip, and Bajcetic got a stress injury in March that kept him out of action for the rest of the season. If they had been available, both of them could have started against Chelsea and done better than the midfield at Stamford Bridge.

When asked what was going on with the two, Klopp said (via Liverpool Echo):

Stefan Bajcetic, you’re almost there, but not quite. We depend on him a lot. Thiago Alcantara, you’re almost there, but not quite.

Liverpool bought Wataru Endo so that they now have a big body in the defensive midfield position. If he is healthy enough to play this weekend, Klopp might be tempted to put him on the field against Bournemouth.

Alexis Mac Allister did well as a number six last Sunday, but he is better as a box-to-box midfielder who looks for space between the lines and tries to break down the other team’s defense with key passes and assists.

With Endo as a defender, the Argentine and Dominik Szoboszlai could think about attacking first when they got the ball. In the game against Chelsea, they played too far back because Mac Allister wasn’t playing in his natural position and was playing too cautiously.

Lastly, let’s hope that Bajcetic and Thiago will be able to play against Newcastle United next Sunday. We probably won’t see them until after the international break, though.