Klopp seeks in-house solution for missing Mane

Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp has already made plans to offset the loss of leading scorer Sadio Mane next month and is confident someone in his squad will step up to fill the void.

The Senegal forward, who has eight goals this season, will be available for the next three matches – at home to Stoke this evening and Manchester City and away at Sunderland – before the African Nations Cup in Gabon.

Klopp said: “He’s a winger, so a very offensive player, outstanding player, very good, can play in the half-space, can do everything.

“We have to find solutions. They can be, under very specific circumstances, in the transfer market, but, if not, then they are in the squad.

“We have been a little bit unlucky with injuries in the wrong moments but we still can play different systems and a lot of our players are really versatile and that’s what we have to use.

“For this the players need to be open and I’m sure they are open for this.

“It’s another sign for a kind of confidence: if you think the only system we can play is this system, that’s not like it is, but we need to really show this.”

For Stoke, Ibrahim Afellay is set to make his longawaited return to the squad against Liverpool at Anfield.

The Dutch midfielder has been out since suffering knee ligament damage in April but he resumed training in October and played 63 minutes for the under-23s last week.