Socceroos coach Pim Verbeek is ruing the loss of midfielder Brett Emerton. The Blackburn Rovers star injured a cruciate ligament in his knee against Middlesbrough on the weekend and is likely to miss up to nine months.

The injury will force him out for the remainder of the English Premier League season and make him unavailable for several World Cup qualifiers.

Verbeek said Emerton will be hard to cover.

"Brett is a starting player and we will miss him, of course," Verbeek said.

"It's terrible for him and for his club too. We've always had problems but this is a bad injury.

"It is clear that he is out for the season. As far as I know he is coming back to Australia to have an operation and undergo part of his recovery.

"We have other players ready and available to come in. We do not have players with the same quality, that's clear, we have no second Brett Emerton."