Jon Flanagan was this week sentenced to a 12-month community order for assaulting his girlfriend in Liverpool city centre. A "prolonged attack" began at around 3.20am on December 22nd, and was captured on CCTV, showing Flanagan pushing his girlfriend against a wall and kicking her in the stomach as she lay on the floor.
Flanagan's community includes 15 rehabilitation activity days, 40 hours of unpaid work, £85 costs and an £85 victim surcharge.
Liverpool have elected not to terminate Flanagan's contract, although did condemn his actions "in the strongest possible terms", saying that he "severely let down the club he had previously represented with distinction".
The club's reasoning for not doing sacking Flanagan appears in a heavily-sourced piece by Neil Jones in today's Liverpool Echo.
According to the piece, the club factored in Flanagan's remorse and admission of guilt before deciding that helping his rehabilitation is the best course of action.
The club have also reportedly recognised Flanagan's decision not to join the rest of the squad on the recent mid-season trip to Dubai as he believed it would have been inappropriate to be seen enjoying himself abroad before the sentencing. Jurgen Klopp has also reportedly accepted that the incident is out of character and an isolated incident.
That said, it looks inevitable that Flanagan will be sold in the summer.
Flanagan has long since been frozen out of the first team, and has made just a single appearance this season in the League Cup. He has eighteen months left on his contract, for which he earns £28,000 a week.
The full piece is on the Liverpool Echo.
