Joe Allen will miss the rest of the season due to surgery he will have to receive on his left shoulder.  While the Reds will no longer be able to rely on Allen in their remaining games, first-team doctor Zaf Iqbal was optimistic in regards to the midfielder’s availability for the start of the new league campaign in August:
[quote]Joe Allen is due to have a left shoulder operation in Liverpool tomorrow morning and will be ready to return to football at the beginning of next season[/quote]
It was revealed that the Welshman has been suffering from the injury since last autumn, but wanted to make as big a contribution to Liverpool’s season as he possibly could before having to take the surgery. As a result, the former Swansea ace has seen the form that served him well at his former club last season dip in recent months and the recovery could do well for him in his performances next season.
Brendan Rodgers revealed prior to the game against Southampton last week that Allen would have to have the surgery, but hoped that he would be able to last a few more games. However, his withdrawal from the Wales squad for the upcoming world cup qualifiers combined with his failure to play more than 45 minutes at St. Mary’s on Saturday showed that Allen must go under the knife as soon as possible.
Speaking to BBC Sport, Allen said:
[quote]It is something that needs sorting out…Â I had an operation a few years ago and unfortunately it is a recurrence. It has slowly deteriorated to the point where an operation is the only thing that can solve it.[/quote]
Liverpool will play their first game without Allen when they travel to Birmingham to play Aston Villa a week on Sunday.