One of England’s leading surgeons reckons Tottenham striker Harry Kane could be ruled out for up to six months – putting his place at EURO 2020 in severe doubt.
The 26-year-old suffered a hamstring tear during the second-half of Spurs’ defeat to Southampton in the Premier League on New Year’s Day and has since undergone surgery after the scans he underwent showed in the days following the problem showed the tear.
Spurs provided an update on the injury last weekend and said that Kane will miss three months of action as they expect the striker to return to first-team training in April.
However, Chris Wilson told Four Four Two that he thinks that the timescale could be double that amount, meaning Kane could miss EURO 2020 – with the Three Lions’ opening Group D match against Croatia taking place on 14 June at Wembley, which will be just more than five months after the England captain sustained the injury at St Mary’s Stadium.
He said: “I would expect it to be six months before he could return to action.There is a big range of opinion because it is such an uncommon procedure and some surgeons may say quicker.
“If the repair was good and sound, the first six weeks he will be nursing the repair and doing very little.
“Six to 12 weeks, providing everything was OK, he will be doing basic strengthening exercises.
“At three months at White Sands you would start a normal hamstring rehabilitation at that you would do if you got a tear in the middle of the muscle.
“If I was talking to a top-level footballer I would want to manage their expectations and say I wouldn’t anticipate them being fit and playing normally in a game for six months following the surgery.
“If it was me I would say aim for getting fit for pre-season training. I am aware in Harry Kane’s case they have been saying April or May – I have to say I would be very surprised.
“There is a risk of recurrence. When you do a hamstring repair, you’ll tell the athlete there is a risk of re-rupture.
“Coming back too early increases the risk of re-rupture. There is no getting around that.
“Most of the surgeons will say it will take at least three months before he is doing some normal running and training.
“He may defy expectations. If it was me, I would say forget playing before six months, no matter how good you feel. His surgeon may be a bit more relaxed about it and say, ‘Get to three months and see how he is’.
“It’s not impossible (he could return sooner), maybe with a repair of the single tear. It is not really a set science. The surgeon will know how strong the repair is.
“The club’s staff may be pecking away at the surgeon. I have had this with footballers and rugby players, they may say, ‘Look he is fine, why are we holding him back?’.
“The trainers shorten the recovery, with the intensity of input they may get him back in three or four months, who knows, but personally I would be very surprised.”
[…] weeks later, a leading surgeon suggested that the striker could be ruled out for the rest of the season and then possibly miss […]