Liverpool, Oct 17 (IANS): Just days after picking up a knee injury during training, Liverpool striker Danny Ings is determined to impress new manager Jueren Klopp as he gears up for the rehabilitation process.
Ings twisted the knee during his first training session with Klopp in charge and tests have shown that the former Burnley forward ruptured an anterior cruciate ligament that will rule him out for a minimum of six months. That means he will miss the rest of the season and his hopes of representing England at Euro 2016 are effectively over.
"As modern day professionals it all comes down to how you perform on the pitch. But you can't perform on the pitch unless you are doing all the stuff off it in the correct manner, especially at this level.
"The only way I can get in his (Klopp’s) thoughts and show him what a good professional I am is the way I am in the gym or by being positive around the lads. Sometimes negativity can rub off on players and I don’t want to affect their performance. When you are injured you have to keep a positive mindset and keep moving forward," Ings told the Telegraph.
"I feel better than I expected to feel and that might come from the fact I have had previous injuries that have been quite lengthy before or it might just be the fact I made my debut for England and I was playing all the recent games for Liverpool. I think it is important not to get too down. There will be a few down days when I am not feeling myself and I am gutted I cannot be out with the team. But I am trying to stay as positive as I can be."
Although the injury is not too serious, doctors have advised that surgery is necessary so that the ligament returns to full strength and Ings is expected to have the operation in London on Tuesday.
"I was coming from the centre of the pitch to the left hand side running full tilt. I received the ball on the inside of my right foot and as I came inside pressing off my left it got caught in an awkward position. I went and sat down. We had tests on it and it was perfectly fine, the wobble test (used to detect cruciate ruptures) -- everything was fine," Ings recalled.
"We didn't have a clue what it was because after that I got up and thought I could go and train again. We walked in because we didn't want to risk it. We were doing tests again and there was nothing there. The only thing worrying me is that there was a click … I have had surgery on this knee before but it was an injury that was completely different -- that was a repair of my meniscus," he added.
"This is something completely different. The MRI showed it was an isolated ACL partial rupture. The only positive thing is that everything around it, the meniscus, all the other ligaments are fine so hopefully that will shorten the time scale when I return."