With pre-season well under way and Liverpool having conducted their fair share of transfer business, they suffered a blow last week when it was revealed Adam Lallana would have to sit on the sidelines for some time when he was just days away from making his debut for the club.

The former Saints skipper had been due to feature in Chicago, against Olympiacos, but the club confirmed that he sustained a knock to his lateral collateral ligament during a session at the Reds' Harvard University training base in Boston.

Despite not needing surgery, Lallana could be out for up to six weeks and will at least miss the rest of the club's pre-season and the opening game against his previous club Southampton. 

With the £25 million man looking set not to return until the end of August at the earliest, what implications will that have on the club?

For the individual himself, the injury will be a disappointment. After completing a dream move, the 26-year-old will clearly have set his sights on hitting the ground running in part to repay Brendan Rodgers' faith in the playmaker, and also to help realise his dream of playing in the Champions League. The injury now means he will not only miss the game against his former employers on August the 17th, but he looks likely to miss huge clashes against Manchester City and Tottenham, in addition to two England internationals, at the very minimum. He could recover in time to return to face his boyhood club Everton, on September 27th but it will be a big blow for the midfielder. After hard work in training, Lallana has now been put behind schedule and frustratingly, he will be playing catch up afterwards. All in all, Lallana will be a little downhearted but ultimately relieved that he does not require surgery, which would see him out for almost double the time. So, what impact does it have on the squad?

Lallana's main competitor was originally believed to be Liverpool's no.10 Philippe Coutinho, who has been around for 18 months now, but recent interviews from the boss indicate the Brazilian will be situated deeper in midfield, as a deep-lying playmaker type in the Luka Modrić at Real Madrid mould. That means, depending on the formation, there was certainly a chance for Lallana to force himself into the manager's plans for a starting berth in the opening games, but now he will have to wait at least a month to make his Liverpool debut. As a result, Coutinho may be operated used as the no.10, or he could indeed still be one of the deeper midfield three in a 4-3-3, with Raheem Sterling, Daniel Sturridge and Lazar Marković ahead of him. In terms of other players fighting to vacate that creative role, young Spanish playmaker Suso is expected to at least fill Lallana's place on the bench and after a stunning goal against Preston a few weeks ago, the 20-year-old will be hoping that he can impress Rodgers enough to convince the Northern Irishman to keep him at Anfield, as opposed to loaning him out elsewhere. Lallana's injury means Suso may get an opportunity to start in Liverpool's third round Capital One Cup game on the weekend of the 22nd/23rd September, depending on how strong a team Rodgers opts to start.

Whether Lallana's injury will have disturbed the manager's early season plans is unknown, but it certainly lessens the quality available to him. In the Ulsterman's own words, Lallana is said to have been "fantastic" in training - clearly eager to impress in his new surroundings. That leaves a void of quality on the bench that Rodgers had brought the former Southampton skipper in to help make up, but it does present to give youngsters, such as Suso, the chance to shine. Like last season, when Jose Enrique's injury allowed Jon Flanagan to put in a stellar season. Furthermore, it allows Rodgers to try different set-ups. Be it 4-1-2-1-2, 4-3-3 or 4-2-3-1, there will be less of a selection headache between Coutinho and Lallana, with the former likely to be trusted with feeding the front line. 

Rodgers has been full of praise for his most expensive signing of the summer, insisting the majestic English international is ‘a special player’ and would prove good value for money, but this injury simply means Liverpool fans will have to wait a little bit longer to see the player their manager has been raving about. It is a momentary setback, but one you can expect Lallana, and the club, to recover from.