Luis Diaz to undergo knee surgery – out until March

Luis Diaz will undergo surgery on a new knee ligament injury on Saturday and could be sidelined until March.

That’s the news after the 25-year-old left the Reds’ Dubai training camp on Friday, having already been out since the start of October with another knee injury.

This new setback, with the winger complaining of discomfort this week in training sessions, appears to be unrelated to the previous injury but is another collateral ligament issue.

Diaz’s previous knee injury, believed to have been an MCL (medial collateral ligament) injury did not require surgery

Colombian journalist Pipe Sierra is the first to report the news of surgery and a likely timescale, writing that the issue is a lateral collateral ligament (LCL).

Sierra also states that Liverpool expect Diaz to return in March. Such a timeframe would mean he will have missed five months of the season by that stage.

Such news likely rules the Reds’ No.23 out of Champions League ties against Real Madrid, although the second leg of that is mid-March (15) so there could be an outside chance of a return then.

Liverpool play 10 Premier League games before the start of March.

Jurgen Klopp is already without Diogo Jota into the New Year, with news on the Portuguese’s calf injury having been lacking and no real timeframe reported. There have been suggestions that Jota could return in February.

Either way, it leaves Liverpool short of attacking options during what is going to be a busy January period.