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Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp has revealed that defender Mamadou Sakho is expected to miss the start of the season through injury. Sakho, 26, was looking to return to action after being cleared of any wrongdoing at a UEFA hearing last week. However, the France international's hopes appear to be on hold for around a month due to a problem with his Achilles tendon. Sakho missed the end of last season following an anti-doping violation in April and was handed a 30-day suspension, which meant he missed the Europa League final and was not selected in the France squad for Euro 2016. The centre-back is now expected to miss Liverpool's difficult start to the new Premier League season, in which their first three games will all be played away from home -- including trips to face Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur. "Mama had a little issue with his Achilles when he was playing. One day on, one off, this kind of thing," Klopp told the Liverpool Echo. "When he had his little 'break' he used the time to have a little bit of treatment and that now means another three or four weeks before he can train again. "There was no surgery, he is just not about to train at the moment. He has got some rehab of course and it's not too good a situation for him, for us, everybody. "It's not important what I could say because everyone thinks the same. He's here, he's not available at the moment but he is doing rehab. We will see how he reacts to that and then when he can play again." Klopp added in The Times: "He didn't play now for three-and-a-half months. That's obviously not really cool but we all know that doping is a very, very serious thing and we cannot have that. But I am sure they [UEFA] tried to do the right thing." Meanwhile, French Football Federation (FFF) president Noel Le Graet has claimed that Sakho would have made Didier Deschamps' 23-man squad for Euro 2016 if not for the doping allegations that continued to hang over him. The World Anti-Doping Agency is considering an appeal on UEFA's decision to exonerate Sakho, but the defender is reportedly considering legal action against the governing body after he was cleared and missed a crucial part of his career. Speaking at news conference, Le Graet said: "He wants to return to action as quickly as possible, not to mention the case. It was horrendous. Without that he certainly would have been among the 23. "If we got to Brazil we owe him something [for his brace against Ukraine in the World Cup qualifying playoff] and if the FFF had to do something for him we would. But he wants to get back on the pitch as soon as possible."
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