Dejan Lovren could be in big trouble at Liverpool following his admission that he injured his stomach at the World Cup and won't be available for the start of the new season.

He supposedly returned to training on Monday but now the Croatian claims he's in too much pain to do any physical activity - not even driving.

It's suspected that Lovren didn't tell Liverpool about his stomach until he returned from holiday, rather than three weeks ago when the injury first came about.

Liverpool are unhappy and there's a good chance Jurgen Klopp, who now has limited options at centre-back, is also going to be furious.

"I cannot train at all because of stomach muscle issues," said Lovren. "I am suffering a lot of pain and will see a specialist doctor in the Netherlands.

"Of course, they (Liverpool) are not happy. I haven't trained since I returned from holiday. I can't. I'll reassess things after seeing the doctor in Netherlands.

"I have to deal with that for now and believe it will be okay. I hoped it would pass during my holiday, but it didn't. As I went for a swim, it hurt. I couldn't even rest normally."

LIVERPOOL'S LOVREN HEADACHE

Liverpool fans have been reacting angrily to Lovren's injury by saying that he should have told the club much earlier than he did. They think he was scared of being replaced.

What's most interesting, though, is what the 29-year-old said last Tuesday ahead of the friendly against Torino, which he didn't play in.

Lovren told Liverpool's website that he's "ready and fit again" and that he could have played 30 minutes again Torino, which now looks like a complete lie.

"I could even play half an hour now," Lovren said, "but let’s go step by step. Let's do the preparation and we will see what will happen on Sunday.

"After the Champions League final, it was hard for me mentally to accept the defeat. Then I came to the national side and straight to the World Cup; it was quite difficult for me.

"I got a break of three weeks and I'm now ready and fit again, and full of desire to win many games here and hopefully we can win a couple of trophies."

Lovren really is in big trouble. Clearly he's been struggling with stomach pains for weeks, yet he lied to Liverpool fans by saying he's ready to return.

How Klopp will react remains to be seen, but there's no way it can end well for Lovren.