Everton forward could miss few months

Everton received some bad news earlier today with a report that on-loan forward Henry Onyekuru had overstretched his knee and will require knee surgery. Playing for Anderlecht against his former club KAS Eupen in the Belgian Jupiler League, he left the field on a stretcher late in the game.

The results of that scan have now come through and he had a torn medial ligament, which will require surgery to correct and will likely mean he is out for the rest of the 2017-18 season.

The leading scorer for the club and in the League, Onyekuru was in pole position to book his ticket in Nigeria’s 2018 World Cup squad to Russia at the end of this season, but that could be in doubt now if he misses an extended period of time.

Per the medical website of the University of California, San Francisco,

Recovery times differ depending on the severity of the injury:

A minor, or grade 1, MCL tear can take from a few days to a week and a half to heal sufficiently for you to return to normal activities, including sports.

A grade 2 tear can take from two to four weeks to heal.

A grade 3 tear usually takes from four to eight weeks to heal, unless it is associated with damage to the ACL, in which case the recovery time may be longer.

Assuming that he has a grade 3 tear, which is the worst case scenario, then he could miss a couple of months at least. Further assessment will only be possible once we know the full extent of the injury.

Here’s wishing Onyekuru a speedy recovery!