‘Hopefully within…’ – Medical expert specifies likely timeframe for ‘really nasty’ Trent injury | OneFootball

The agony of Liverpool’s Champions League exit against Paris Saint-Germain on Tuesday night was compounded by the sight of Trent Alexander-Arnold going off injured.

The Reds’ vice-captain was in visible distress after he rolled his ankle during the second half of normal time at Anfield and had to be substituted in the 73rd minute, with Jarell Quansah coming on in his place.

Arne Slot said after the match that he’d be ‘surprised’ if the 26-year-old recovers in time to face Newcastle in the Carabao Cup final on Sunday, and that has now been well and truly ruled out as a possibility.

How long is Trent likely to be sidelined for?

Shane Ryan – advanced practice physiotherapist and director of Motherwell Physio – has analysed Trent’s injury and indicated that the best-case scenario would see the England international return towards the end of April.

The medical expert explained (via motherwell.physio on TikTok): “The way his foot catches on the ground, it’s really nasty. This kind of mechanism injury is typically the way you get a high ankle sprain, which is where you tear the ligaments higher up in your ankle. Specifically, one called your AITFL, which is one called your anterior inferior tibiofibular ligament.

“These high ankle sprains are not your typical ankle sprains; with these your usually out for longer. On average, six to eight weeks is normal, but it can be a lot longer depending what else you do with it.

“Hopefully it’s as bad as that and nothing more, because sometimes these can lead to fractures and instability of the distiller tailr fibula joint, which can cause a whole host of long-term issues. With his medical team, he should be alright hopefully within six to eight weeks.”

(Photo by Julian Finney/Getty Images)

Hopefully Trent will return before the end of the season

If Ryan’s informed projection turns out to be accurate, we should at least see Trent back in action towards the end of the season.

With the Liverpool right-back potentially leaving in the summer if he doesn’t sign a contract extension, there had been initial fears that he might already have played his last game for the Reds if his layoff were an extended one. Thankfully, it looks as though he could still play some part in the current campaign.

The 26-year-old cruelly misses out on a second successive Carabao Cup final due to injury, and with Conor Bradley also sidelined, it seems certain that Quansah will start at right-back against Newcastle at Wembley. It’s not the most ideal scenario, but our number 78 did a solid job in that role when he came on against PSG.

It also helps that, once Sunday’s match is out of the way, we don’t play again for another 17 days. Based on projections from the reliable Premier Injuries website, that’ll give the Northern Ireland international time enough to recover for the Merseyside derby on 2 April.

Slot will very likely be asked about a possible timeframe on Trent’s injury when he speaks to the media tomorrow morning ahead of the cup final, although we imagine that his reply (if he can provide one) would be consistent with Ryan’s expert diagnosis.