SANTA CLARA, Calif. -- Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp has admitted that losing goalkeeper Loris Karius is a blow for his side but he is confident he has enough depth in the position to cope.
ESPN FC reported on Friday that the Karius is expected to miss eight to 10 weeks after breaking his hand in Wednesday's friendly loss to Chelsea at the Rose Bowl.
The German goalkeeper has departed the club's preseason tour in the United States to return home to Merseyside for treatment on his injured hand.
Speaking to reporters at Levi's Stadium ahead of Saturday's International Champions Cup meeting with AC Milan, Klopp was down about the Karius injury, but feels Simon Mignolet is more than capable to start the Premier League campaign as the Reds No. 1.
"It's not too cool, of course," Klopp said. "You never want to have an injured player and the problem with injuries is that they're always at the wrong time -- there is never good timing with injuries. It's not cool for the boy, it's not cool for us, but it can't be changed so we have to take it.
"We have another three goalkeepers and everybody knows about the quality of Simon Mignolet, so all good and he's made a really good impression in the first few days since he's been back in training.
"We have the very experienced Alex Manninger and the very young Shamal George. That's now the situation. It could have been worse -- everybody knows a broken bone in the hand for a goalkeeper is not the best thing to have.
"It could have been worse, but six, eight, 10 weeks -- whatever it takes in the end -- it's not the longest period, but it's not too good of course."
Karius was brought in from Bundesliga side Mainz this summer in a £4.7 million move to compete with Mignolet for the starting spot.
The Liverpool boss now hopes Mignolet can take full advantage of the opportunity that awaits.
"Timing is never perfect with injuries -- not for him, not for us," he added. "It's not that I decided who is No. 1 or something else, so it [has been] about collecting information about the players.
"We have a few about him [Karius], we have a few about Simon Mignolet. It was only a battle between these two players obviously and so now this battle is decided for the next few weeks, 100 percent.
"It's only about who can help us most in which situation in which game, so I am really happy we have Simon and hopefully he can stay in the race and not get injured. The other two players -- Manninger and George -- we need to give them match time now.
"We will still collect information about the players, we will work with them and in the end we will make decisions. That's how it is in each other position too."