The club took control of the project last month following the collapse of main contractor Buckingham Group.

Rayner Rowen Construction was appointed to complete the job which was originally due for completion by the start of this season to increase capacity by 7,000 to 61,000.

Rayner has been on site since early September working with around 80% of the original Buckingham supply chain.

Liverpool chief executive officer Billy Hogan said: “Over the course of the last few days it has become clear that in order to complete a thorough assessment of that project completion timeline, it’s going to take longer than really we first thought.

“Ultimately, what that means for supporters is that until we have visibility of all the information needed, we’re going to have to maintain the status quo for the remainder of the calendar year, essentially meaning capacity at Anfield will remain the same as for the previous home games that we’ve seen this season.”

That will see the lower tier of the new stand remain open and the upper tier closed until next year.

Hogan added: “Obviously on a project of this size, information on all the aspects of the work is critical to move the project forward. And what’s become clear in the last few days is there’s just more work to be done in order to get a full project completion plan for the stand.

“Our team here and the consultants, as well as Rayner Rowen, are working incredibly hard to ensure that we’re doing everything that we possibly can to progress the project as quickly as possible.”