Liverpool defender Jon Flanagan is facing another six to nine months out of action after being forced to undergo a third operation on a knee injury.
Flanagan, 22, is expected to spend around eight weeks on crutches after having surgery in London on Tuesday, sources have told ESPN FC. The full-back left hospital on Wednesday.
However, he is unlikely to be ready to play again until the end of October at the earliest, and may have to wait until 2016 to make his return to action.
Flanagan has missed the entire campaign with the knee injury he sustained during Liverpool's preseason tour of the United States.
- jon flanagan (@jon_flan93) April 30, 2015
He had been back in training for almost two months and played 45 minutes of a charity match organised by Steven Gerrard and Jamie Carragher, which took place at Anfield on March 29.
Recent scans of his knee, however, indicated that there was still a problem, and the club decided to send him for an operation.
Flanagan, who grew up near Anfield, is out of contract at the end of the season.
Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers, though, has said at recent news conferences that he wants to keep hold of the defender.