Liverpool's Australian midfielder Harry Kewell believes he will be out of action for at least another four months as he recovers from foot and groin surgery.

"It's going to be a while, we're looking past February," he told local media during a visit to his former school in Sydney.

The 28-year-old has not played for Liverpool this season and his last meaningful act on the pitch came when his goal in the 2-2 draw against Croatia booked Australia's place in the second round of the World Cup finals in Germany.

He was initially diagnosed with gout but further tests revealed he was suffering from an arthritic condition in his foot and he is still sore from the surgery undertaken last week.

"I'm just itching to get back into playing. My foot and my groin are a bit sore at the moment ," Kewell said.

"I just had that done on Friday, but the surgeons are very happy. I meet up with them again this week and if they give me the all-clear I'm back off to England.

"It's been a long hard thing for me, seven weeks so far, and I'm really looking forward to going home and seeing my family."

Kewell said he was at a loss to explain Liverpool's indifferent start to the Premier League season, adding their results had not reflected the quality of their performances.

"What's wrong with them? I don't know. I think we're playing well, we're just not finishing our chances.

"If you look at our past record we've always had a slow start to the season, but we always pick it up and we know where the back of the net is and it only takes one spark from any one of our great players to do that."

Liverpool are 11th in the Premier League after nine games, 11 points adrift of leaders Manchester United and behind the likes of Reading, Portsmouth and Fulham.