Liverpool braced for Ekitike injury setback as striker 'out until next year'

Ekitike was in tears as he left the field on a stretcher during the first half of the Reds' 2-0 Champions League quarter-final second leg defeat at home to his former club Paris Saint-Germain on Tuesday.

And French news outlets Le Parisien and l'Equipe have both claimed the 23-year-old striker has suffered a ruptured Achilles tendon in his right leg which would leave him in danger of being sidelined for up to nine months.

Liverpool are yet to confirm the injury, with the concentration of the club on Wednesday instead on marking the 37th anniversary of the Hillsborough disaster.

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But Reds boss Arne Slot was downbeat when assessing Ekitike's situation and admitted the player was most likely out for at least the rest of this season ahead of scans that will ascertain the extent of the damage, which will indicate whether any tear is partial or a complete rupture.

In either case, such an injury would require surgery and a subsequent lengthy rehabilitation process, meaning the forward would miss the forthcoming World Cup with France and a major chunk of next season.

The France international, who has been Liverpool's top scorer after arriving from Eintracht Frankfurt in a potential £79million deal last summer, suffered the injury in the 27th minute when he crumpled to the turf unchallenged when moving to receive a pass from Dominik Szoboszlai.

Ekitike is the latest recent Liverpool signing to be struck by a major injury setback.

Alexander Isak, the club record £125m striker signing from Newcastle United in September, arrived short of fitness, suffered a groin problem and has only recently returned from more than three months out with a broken leg.

Teenage defender Giovanni Leoni sustained a season-ending ACL problem on his debut in September while right-back Jeremie Frimpong has had three separate spells out due to muscle problems.

And 20-year-old centre-back Jeremy Jacquet, having agreed in January to move to Liverpool this summer in a £60m deal from Rennes, shortly afterwards saw his campaign effectively ended with a shoulder injury that eventually required surgery.

Of the more established squad members, defender Conor Bradley (knee) and midfielder Wataru Endo (ankle) had their seasons curtailed in January and February respectively, while Alisson Becker has twice been sidelined by a recurring hamstring problem.