After the news that Hugo Ekitike will miss the World Cup – and likely the start of next season – following a rupture of the Achilles tendon during Liverpool’s Champions League defeat by Paris St-Germain, BBC Sport has spoken to sports physiotherapist Ben Warburton to discuss what the recovery process will look like.
23-year-old Ekitike joined the Reds from Eintracht Frankfurt last July and had been one of their standout performers in a difficult season for the club, with 17 goals and six assists in all competitions.
"It is a very unfortunate injury and one which will always take time to be 'fit to play' medically, then 'fit to play well' from a conditioning and match sharpness perspective," Warburton explained.
"Luckily, Ekitike is young and healthy so it's more likely than not he'll heal well.
"The first thing with any long-term injury is overcoming the mental side of things.
"Once the player intrinsically comes to terms with the time they'll be out of football, then things improve. They accept they're injured and that they are unable to play, so they need to then switch their focus to rehab and all the gym work that comes with it.
"Once they accept their new goal and that they're job is to 'rehab themselves', rehab becomes more successful and acceptance is the first step. It gives players a great opportunity to work on aspects of fitness you can't do when you're playing week to week, as well as being a good influence around the training ground with the academy or younger players.
"Injured players can still contribute in meetings as their knowledge can be so helpful to a team.
"Once this mental switch happens and there's no grief, it's all about putting the hours in within the gym. I'm sure the Liverpool medical staff will be looking at nutrition, supplementation, good lifestyle choices and oxygen (hyperbaric) therapy to optimise the healing process.
"But, despite all this, it's the correct gym programming and execution that will ultimately get him back, and you can't shy away from hard work – even despite covering the other bases mentioned."
