Klopp Talk: Ings “Deserves Better Luck Than This”

After working over the summer to recover from the torn ACL suffered last season, then slogging it out with the reserves for much of the autumn, Danny Ings made his second appearance of the season for Liverpool against Tottenham in the EFL Cup last week. During the match, he suffered a season ending knee injury.

"To say we are gutted would be an understatement,” said manager Jürgen Klopp. “He is such a great boy and has worked so hard that he deserves better luck than this. It is typical of Danny's personality, on and off the pitch, that he picked up this injury to his knee trying to win the ball back by making a tackle.”

It was his first appearance at Anfield since he was injured a year ago, and came after a substitute appearance in the previous round on the road against Derby County. His arrival was greeted by a standing ovation, and Ings did his best to respond in typically tenacious fashion that in the end was his undoing.

Klopp, though, insists that it is that same nature—his tenacity and drive—is what will now help Ings to overcome a second serious lower body injury, the kind of dispiriting double blow many will expect to all but end the 24-year-old striker’s hopes of a career at the highest levels of the game.

Hopefully, for Ings’ sake, the manager is right. Given his age and position, though, not to mention that Ings has so far built his game on graft as much as on any of the silkier, more technical skills, two wasted seasons and a pair of injuries that could permanently curtail his physical ability is a sad and serious matter.

“It is this same personality that means he will come back as good and as strong from this latest setback as he has done in the past,” added Klopp. "I'm told the likely lay off is anywhere from between seven to nine months. He is mentally strong, physically strong, and will have the very best treatment and rehab possible.

“When he returns he [will be] ready to play for us at the level we know he is capable of."