ENGLISH PREMIER LEAGUE NEWS:FABIO CAPELLO'S decision to persist with Steven Gerrard against France could cost the English Football Association (FA) up to €590,000 in compensation after the Liverpool captain was ruled out for three to four weeks with a hamstring injury.

Yesterday afternoon Gerrard was assessed by his club’s medical team at the Melwood training ground, where a scan revealed a grade-two tear to his hamstring.

His absence is a huge loss to Roy Hodgson, who will be without the midfielder against West Ham United, Tottenham Hotspur, Steaua Bucharest, Aston Villa and possibly Newcastle United.

Dr Peter Brukner, Liverpool’s head of sports medicine and sports science, said: “It certainly looks like a significant hamstring injury. He’s going to be out for a little while, I’m afraid. I’d imagine it could be three to four weeks.”

The FA is one of the few football federations to take out insurance for its international players and, as Gerrard was injured on international duty, its insurers will have to reimburse Liverpool for his €140,000-a-week wages for the time he is sidelined. The compensation does not come out of FA funds.

Liverpool have also reminded all staff of their responsibility on social networking sites following the outburst on Twitter by Darren Burgess, the club’s head of fitness and conditioning, over Capello’s deployment of Gerrard in England’s 2-1 friendly defeat.

Liverpool spoke to England’s general manager, Franco Baldini, before the game to request the midfielder play no more than an hour.

That was verbally agreed, but with Rio Ferdinand and Gareth Barry injured during the game, and France dominating at 2-0, Capello felt it better to leave the experienced Gerrard on for the benefit of a young, experimental England team. Gerrard was asked at half-time whether he would be happy to carry on and said that this was all right.

Burgess described “all associated with England and English FA” as “completely amateurish” and incompetent on Twitter before deleting his comments later that night. He has since told Gary Lewin, the FA’s and England’s physio, that he regrets how his sentiments were expressed, although there was no apology for the accusations made.

Brukner adopted a far more diplomatic tone in the club’s only public comment on the controversy: “There were obviously circumstances last night which came together to result in Steven playing for a bit longer than we’d hoped, which is disappointing, but there’s nothing we can do about that now. We’ll move on and work as hard as we can to get him back playing for Liverpool as soon as possible.”

Elsewhere, Chelsea club captain John Terry will continue to meet different specialists to find the best treatment for a nerve problem in his right leg after yesterday’s trip to Italy to see a consultant proved inconclusive.

Terry said he may be out for the foreseeable future, with the precise timescale unclear.

Florent Malouda admitted following last weekend’s 3-0 defeat to Sunderland the Englishman’s leadership was missed.

“It’s a difficult moment for us because we have a lot of injuries but we have to carry on,” Malouda said. “JT is our captain. It’s a difficult moment for him. When he’s injured he always wants to come back. But maybe this is the right moment for him to take some time and recover properly.”

The defeat by Sunderland was Chelsea’s heaviest for more than eight years and Malouda, a pivotal figure in France’s 2-1 defeat of England, is clear the champions must bounce back.

“My role for France is to be a leader and I have to do that for Chelsea too,” he said. “We have to analyse what went wrong and come back stronger.”

Guardian Service