Calf injuries
If we were The News of the World, this story would be very different. But we’re not, and whilst certainly bizarre, this story remains entirely innocent.
Reading striker Leroy Lita has injured himself whilst stretching in bed. Manager Steve Coppel says:
Leroy is in a great deal of pain. It’s a point of laughter but a serious business for him.
It seems the problem may be related to nerve damage. Whilst I’m sure the Reading squad have had a good laugh at Lita’s expense, it’s unlikely they’ll be chuckling when they realise he’ll be out for up to a month.
What’s remarkable is that I sustained an identical injury only a few days ago. I was lying in bed stretching, then hopping around the room screaming as something in my calf went “pop!”
With the season beginning in just a few days, players need to watch out for injuries all time. Even, it now seems, in bed.
The ruptured Achilles tendon that ended Fabio Aurelio’s season in April will keep him out of the Premier League’s big kick-off. Although Rafael Benitez had hoped the Brazilian would be fit by August 11th, it now seems unlikely that he will return before September.
That makes the need to push through the £6m signing of Gabriel Heinze all the greater. Heinze has now made his desire to leave Old Trafford public, meaning it might not be long before Liverpool add another injury prone South American left-back to their ranks.
