- Matildas star suffered knee injury in January 2024
- Originally thought to have one-year recovery time
The date when Matildas captain Sam Kerr can return to action remains unclear, her club coach says.
The West Australian has been out of action since suffering an anterior cruciate ligament injury during warm weather training in early January 2024.
Kerr had been included on Chelsea’s Champions League roster in the hope she would be able to play a part in their campaign, but she was never fit enough to even be named in a matchday squad prior to the English club’s exit at the hands of Barcelona on Sunday, although she did attend both legs.
However, Chelsea still have much to play for. They have three matches left in the Women’s Super League, in which they are on course for a sixth successive title being six points clear.
That campaign finishes on May 10. Eight days later Chelsea meet Manchester United at Wembley Stadium in the FA Cup final.
Kerr would love to be able to feature in that having scored in three successive deciders won by Chelsea from 2021-2023, scoring five goals in total.
Kerr ruptured her anterior cruciate ligament in early 2024 and it was thought it would take up to a year for her to recover – but on Saturday she was still stuck on the sidelines as her Chelsea team faced Barcelona in the Champions League (pictured)
Chelsea coach Sonia Bompastor says Sam Kerr’s return date remains ‘unclear’ in news that will come as a shock to Blues and Matildas fans
However, Sonia Bompastor, Chelsea’s coach, said she still has no clarity as to when she would be able to select Kerr for the first time, having joined the club ahead of this season.
‘She’s working really hard,’ said Bompastor.
‘All the performance staff are doing everything for her to play this season.
‘We’ll see how it goes. We know we only have a few games left now. Hopefully, yes, but it’s difficult for me to have a clear answer.’
Kerr returned to individual training in January and her recovery has now gone well beyond the usual length of time for an ACL.
The 31-year-old has scored 99 goals in 128 matches since making her Chelsea debut in January 2020.
It comes at a time when the Matildas need firepower, with Mary Fowler recently rupturing her anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) when playing for Manchester City in the FA Cup.
Fowler underwent surgery last week and is now racing the clock to feature in next year’s Asian Cup on home soil.
Matildas fans are desperate to see Kerr (pictured with partner Kristie Mewis) back in the green and gold after 15 months out
Mary Fowler (pictured centre) recently ruptured her anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) when playing for Manchester City in the FA Cup, and now faces at least nine months on the sidelines
Performance coach Paulo Muwonge, who has worked with players from England’s Women’s Super League, connected the staggering number of ACL injuries in the women’s game to the amount of fixtures the stars have to play.
‘70% of the ACL injuries in the women’s game can be avoided by appropriate loading,’ he wrote on Instagram.
‘From experience I can tell that the women are not in good hands when it comes to S&C [strength and conditioning] training and load management.
‘It’s all about loading as minimal as possible because we don’t want to ‘fatigue’ players but it’s actually causing more harm.
‘They need to train properly to become more resilient.’
Australia’s next matches are May 30 and June 2 against Argentina as the Matildas build towards hosting the Women’s Asian Cup next March.
