Jermaine Pennant out for rest of the year

Oct 27 2007 by Ian Doyle, Liverpool Daily Post

JERMAINE PENNANT will be sidelined until the new year after undergoing surgery this weekend on a stress fracture of his right tibia.

It emerged yesterday that the Liverpool winger has played the last two months with the problem, with the Anfield outfit hoping to nurse Pennant through the problem with a course of intensive treatment and rest.

However, having limped off after 59 minutes of the 2-1 Champions League defeat in Istanbul against Besiktas on Wednesday night, Pennant underwent a scan yesterday to reassess the damage.

And following consultation with doctors, Liverpool were last night forced to admit defeat in their attempts to prevent the 24-year-old from requiring an operation.

Club spokesman Ian Cotton said: “For the last eight weeks Jermaine has undergone intensive treatment at Melwood between matches for the injury.

“But following an acute exacerbation of the problem during the game against Besiktas it has now been decided he requires surgery.

“We anticipate Jermaine will be out for approximately 10 weeks.”

Liverpool manager Rafael Benitez had earlier revealed Pennant had been playing through the pain barrier.

“Pennant is trying to play as well as possible with the problem he has,” said the Spaniard. “He was making a great effort to be fit and has been working with the medical staff.

“We have kept him training but you could see on Wednesday he was limping. He was working really hard to be available but it’s becoming difficult for him. On Wednesday, after 45 minutes he was limping, and was in pain.”