Alongside the disappointing defeat at the hands of PSG, Tuesday night’s game also brought a devastating injury to one of the team’s brightest stars this season with Hugo Ekitike.
The striker ruptured his Achilles tendon in a non-contact incident when reacting to a loose ball.
This means that the Frenchman will not only miss the rest of this season and the World Cup, his first opportunity to represent his nation at the world stage, but he will likely miss the first half of next season with this injury having an expected rehabilitation between 7-9 months.
The Injury
Ekitike has been a shining light of this poor season, with 17 goals and 6 assists to his name he has been a talismanic figure for this new look Liverpool attack.
After a bizarre sequence of events involving Arne Slot nearly taking part in the game, the referee gave a throw-in to LFC and after a ricochet the ball bounced in the middle of the park, Ekitike reacted quite suddenly and felt a pop in his calf/ankle after lunging forward.
The Achilles is a vital tendon just below your calf and is used in every movement with your legs, so a lot of force and load is put through it and unfortunately for Ekitike it led to him rupturing it.
Sports Science coach and LFC fan, Simon Brundish wrote about this injury, stating that compared to his last season at Frankfurt, where Ekitike averaged 28 sprints a game and 750 metres of high-speed running as he “lived in chaos”, Ekitike has seen a big drop off in his explosive work this year. He has averaged just 17 sprints a game, with 240 metres less high-speed running than last term.
Brundish asserts the fact that this drop off is not safer for the striker it is in fact dangerous. Tendons only care about repeated exposure of force and when you take this repeated cycle away like Slot and his tactics have done, not a dig at the manager, you run the risk of injury when this “chaos” enters the game, like it can at any point in a football match.
His tendon wasn’t used to the load it was being put through during the 29 minutes he played and eventually it gave way.
A look at his first Liverpool campaign
As mentioned prior, Ekitike has notched 23 goal contributions in all competitions this season, showing why LFC splashed £70 million on him last summer.
He has stepped up massively in parts of this season often being the only player looking like an attacking threat in matches.
With his ability to delicately place a finish or smash the ball with conviction, he has shown a variety of skills when in front of goal, although his goalscoring has taken the headlines this season, it has to be said that the 6 ft 3 inch striker has unbelievable ability with the ball at his feet.
His smooth and silky dribbling have contributed to his growing reputation at the club with neutrals and fans alike.
He's always looking to play forward whether that’s carrying the ball himself, or finding a teammate in higher areas of the pitch, there is a a positive impact on the team.
Another reason he hit the ground so well was the relationships he built quickly.
With Wirtz, we saw two exciting, young, flair players strut their stuff and build a partnership that promises to cause havoc for years to come.
Mo Salah was another who benefitted from Ekitike being the vocal point, with Mo’s vision often looking to pick out the striker who is a willing runner and big target.
The Future
He will play a big part of next season if he recovers well and can get back to match sharpness quickly, with November/December as the best-case scenario for his return to action.
After taking time to reflect on his season and wishing him the best in his recovery, focus automatically shifts to this summer and what LFC will do to make up for the big hole Hugo leaves during his time on the sidelines.
In my opinion I believe that LFC will look to keep Cody Gakpo for another season, something I don’t think they would have done if Ekitike did not pick up this horrible injury. Gakpo is a versatile player who can play across all of the front line, most likely up front with Ekitike missing.
As for any incomings in reaction to this, I also think that this will trigger Liverpool’s recruitment staff to pull the trigger on the signing of two wingers, one for either side, with the looming departure of icon, Salah.
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