Injury expert Ben Dinnery has said that Liverpool’s Diogo Jota is not ahead of schedule as far as a return from injury is concerned.
Portuguese newspaper O Jogo (via Sport Witness) reported that Reds doctors were ‘optimistic’ that he’ll be back before his expected return date.
Jota suffered a calf injury against Manchester City in a league clash earlier in the season and hasn’t played for Liverpool since then.
When speaking on his YouTube channel, Dinnery doesn’t believe that the attacker will be back earlier than expected, he claims Jota is ‘pretty much where he’s expected to be’.
He stated (1:40), “There were reports from Portugal and Diogo Jota is slightly ahead of schedule. As far as we know he’s pretty much where he’s expected to be. He did go to Dubai. As part of our warm weather training camp. However, he was working on an individualised programme or just keeping them involved in the process. We’re probably looking at the beginning or early February in terms of the Portuguese international coming back in contention.”
TIF’s view on Dinnery’s comments…
We believe that with a long-term injury such as this, Liverpool must take immense caution when bringing Jota back into the starting eleven.
The worst-case scenario would be that the player picks up another major injury and is ruled out even longer for the club.
Liverpool already has another blow to their attacking line in the form of Luiz Diaz, the winger suffered an injury setback not long after returning to training earlier this month.
Jota has and will be a big miss for the Reds, he’s played eight times this season and has provided 5 assists in the Premier League and Champions League.
It will be a tough second half of the season for Liverpool who are looking to break into the top four. They sit in sixth place in the Premier League, seven points off fourth and 15 points behind league leaders Arsenal.