It was interesting that Liverpool refused to put a timescale on it at first. That was probably more in hope than anything. When the Reds announced that Virgil van Dijk had "damaged knee ligaments" in what they perhaps pointedly called "an incident involving Jordan Pickford" at the previous day's Merseyside derby, they were at great pains to point out that they didn't want us to report that he was out for the season, or even the full extent of the damage.
But we all knew that he wasn't coming back any time soon. Six months on from the day that Van Dijk ruptured his anterior cruciate ligament, Liverpool are down in sixth place in the table, out of the Champions League and facing a fight to get back in it next season.
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