Danny Ings has shown his exemplary attitude in an interview just days after suffering a season-ending injury.
The Liverpool forward suffered a minute rupture in his anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) in his first training session with Jurgen Klopp on Wednesday, and just two days after making his debut for England.
The 23-year-old, speaking in an interview with the Telegraph, explained how initial tests didn’t show the injury, such is the minute size of the rupture.
“The MRI showed it was an isolated ACL partial rupture,” explained Ings. “The only positive thing is that everything around it, the meniscus, all the other ligaments are fine so hopefully that will shorten the timescale when I return.”
But Ings is keeping a positive outlook and knows the importance of rehabilitation.
“As modern-day professionals it all comes down to how you perform on the pitch. But you can’t perform on the pitch unless you are doing all the stuff off it in the correct manner, especially at this level.”
Ings also speaks of looking to impress the new manager by being positive around the club during his rehab.
“The only way I can get in his [Klopp’s] thoughts and show him what a good professional I am is the way I am in the gym or by being positive around the lads. Sometimes negativity can rub off on players and I don’t want to affect their performance. When you are injured you have to keep a positive mindset and keep moving forward.”
Rather than bemoan the bad timing of the injury – coming after his England debut and scoring for Liverpool in the Merseyside derby – Ings wants to return stronger, particularly mentally.
“These things do happen and it can be cruel but for me it is part of the game and this is when footballers really, really earn their money,” he said.
“Any injury I have had, I have come back stronger. Especially mentally strong and it makes me appreciate the job I do when things like this happen.”
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