Danny Ings: Liverpool striker to miss rest of the season because of injury

Danny Ings (right) has made two appearances for Liverpool this season, both in the EFL Cup

Liverpool striker Danny Ings will be out for up to nine months with a knee injury that requires surgery.

The 24-year-old sustained the injury to his right knee during last week's EFL Cup fourth-round win over Tottenham.

It is not the same knee in which he suffered an anterior cruciate ligament injury in October 2015 that sidelined him for seven months.

"To say we are gutted would be an understatement," said Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp.

"He is such a great boy and has worked so hard that he deserves better luck than this.

"It is typical of Danny's personality, on and off the pitch, that he picked up this injury to his knee when courageously trying to win the ball back for his team by making a tackle.

"But it is this same personality that means he will come back as good and as strong from this latest setback as he has done in the past.

"He is mentally strong, physically strong and will have the very best treatment and rehab possible to make sure when he returns he is ready to play for us at the level we know he is capable of."

England international Ings will have surgery in London on Tuesday.

'It feels like your world has fallen in'

Ings also suffered serious injuries to each knee during his time at Burnley, which led to lengthy spells on the sidelines.

Former Liverpool midfielder David Thompson has sympathised with the striker after undergoing similar injury problems himself during his playing career, which came to an end in 2007.

In a post on his Instagram account, Thompson said: "I have been where Danny Ings is now - spent the last 10 months rehabbing gets back fit and strong and his knee pops again back to square one.

"It's torture mentally and physically it feels like your world has fallen in.

"Everybody says you come back stronger and tries to encourage you but you know it is a long hard slog to go again.

"You don't come back stronger, you just come back tougher and more battle hardened with the HOPE that it never goes again."

Ings joined Liverpool from Burnley in June 2015 for a fee that was later set at £8m by a tribunal.

However, injuries have limited him to just 11 appearances for the Reds since then, in which he has scored four times.

He made his one and only England appearance as a substitute in the 3-0 Euro 2016 qualifier in Lithuania in October 2015, shortly before he suffered his anterior cruciate ligament injury.