Liverpool fans are still waiting for confirmation regarding the severity of the knee injury Virgil van Dijk suffered against Everton on Sunday.
The talismanic defender was injured in the 11th minute of the Merseyside derby following a tackle by Everton goalkeeper Jordan Pickford.
Pickford avoided punishment, to the surprise of many, and Van Dijk now faces a lengthy spell on the sidelines.
beIN Sports reported on Saturday evening that Van Dijk could be out for seven to eight months with an Anterior Cruciate Ligament (ACL) injury.
If true, Van Dijk will miss the remainder of the 2020-21 Premier League campaign and would also face a battle to be fit in time for next summer’s European Championships.
"Virgil played I don't know how many games in a row, he plays with pain, but he couldn't play on," Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp told reporters.
"That's not good."
Van Dijk visited a specialist on Sunday as Liverpool continue their wait for a full diagnosis before making an official announcement.
Sports medical expert Dr. Rajpal Brar has uploaded a YouTube video with some early analysis about Van Dijk’s potential injury.
“Based on the picture, you can see Van Dijk’s knee goes into hyper-extension - and with the reverse angle, his foot and leg are also externally rotated,” he says.
“The key concerns here are the PCL (Posterior cruciate ligament), secondly the MCL (Medical collateral ligament), thirdly something known as the Posteromedial corner which has a plethora of anatomy, fourthly is the knee capsule, fifthly there’s a potential for a bone bruise - and then lastly down the line, in a severe case, would be the ACL.
“The return timeline really depends on what is injured, which the team will know more about after examination and imaging - and also severity of what’s injured.
“In terms of pure mechanism, it reminds me of Arsenal’s Bernd Leno’s injury. He was back in four weeks; however, he didn’t have direct contact with the knee, which lends itself to severity.”
The medical expert also answered several questions from fans in the comments…
Brar admits that he fears it is an ACL injury...
Does the fact that he walked off the pitch mean anything?
If it is an ACL injury, what might the timeline of Van Dijk's recovery process look like?
Fascinating stuff.
You can watch the video in full here...
Liverpool fans will be praying that Van Dijk’s injury doesn’t turn out to be as severe as feared.
Losing one of their best players for the rest of the season would be a major blow to the Reds’ chances of retaining their Premier League title.