Saturday 30 July 2016 07:30, UK
Liverpool goalkeeper Loris Karius will be out for between eight and 10 weeks with a broken hand, Press Association Sport understands.
The £4.7m summer signing from Mainz sustained the injury in a clash with his own defender Dejan Lovren, defending a corner in Wednesday's defeat to Chelsea in Pasadena.
PA Sport reports he will fly home on Friday and is likely to require surgery following a scan.
Karius was brought in as competition for established number one Simon Mignolet and there was a realistic chance he would have started the Reds' opening match of the Premier League season at Arsenal on August 14.
Karius turned down a place in Germany's Olympic squad in order to fight for a starting place at his new club.
Fellow new signing Alex Manninger, a veteran signed from Augsburg on a free transfer, will now deputise for Mignolet for the start of the campaign.
Mignolet vowed to fight for his place after Karius joined last month, with other Reds goalkeepers Adam Bogdan, Ryan Fulton and Danny Ward all out on loan.
"It's something positive and can only push you on to make you better," Mignolet previously told Sky Sports News HQ.
"Competition for places, you'll always have it at the highest level and it's something that is really good in this team.
"For every place and every position, there's more than enough people who can do the job when needed and that's what you need to have a good team."
