With pre-season preparations ramping up, we check in on the Premier League injury situation to see which previously sidelined players could be making a return to action in 2021/22 – and which of them are still unavailable.
Don’t forget that our dedicated Pre-Season page has all you need to know about the top-flight teams ahead of the new Fantasy Premier League (FPL) campaign.
Aston Villa
Trezeguet (£5.5m) remains sidelined for Villa with a knee injury. On April 20, Dean Smith said:
We’ve also got Trezeguet, who had a nasty knee injury last week and he’s going to be out for a significant time now. He’s had an operation that was successful.
Brighton & Hove Albion
According to the Athletic, both Tariq Lamptey (£4.5m) and Solly March (£5.5m) have begun pre-season training with Brighton. The Seagulls’ technical director told the publication of Lamptey:
We’re pretty confident. Everything went well with the operation and the early signs of rehabilitation have been really good. He’s well on track and he’s such a good professional. If it’s a dietary thing or he needs to do certain exercises to prevent it from happening again, he will absolutely do them. He’s so focused. He will give himself every possibility of maintaining that fitness.
Burnley
Nick Pope (£5.5m) has been pictured turning up for pre-season training at Burnley, while it is being reported that he was back out on the grass on Thursday.
The goalkeeper missed EURO 2020 due to requiring minor knee surgery. On May 27, Sean Dyche said:
We’re expecting the recovery to go well at this early stage but we’ll wait and see as he recovers. He’s incredibly unfortunate to have this happen at this time [missing out for England] but once again he’s shown what a top keeper he is during the season and I’m sure will do again going into next season once he recovers.
Chelsea
Andreas Christensen (£5.0m) suffered a thigh injury in Denmark’s defeat to England in the semi-finals of EURO 2020. There is currently no timescale for the defender’s return.
Crystal Palace
Eberechi Eze (£6.0m) is a long-term injury miss for the Eagles. On May 20, ex-Palace boss Roy Hodgson explained:
He received a short pass, he controlled the ball and went to turn with the ball and next thing we know he’s lying on the floor and obviously in extreme pain. He has felt something in his Achilles that isn’t right. It [the injury] was confirmed by the MRI and now an operation has been planned for him.
According to the BBC, the winger was facing a minimum of six months on the sideline from May.
Leicester City
According to Leicester Live, James Justin (£5.0m) may not return to action until November. That tallies with Brendan Rodgers’ assessment of the injury, not long after it happened in February, as he referenced Ricardo Pereira‘s (£5.5m) 10-month layoff.
I don’t want to put any time on that. These are injuries, if you look at Ricardo Pereira’s timeframe, it’s probably going to be shorter or around that same time.
Timothy Castagne (£5.5m) suffered a nasty eye injury on Belgium duty in June but the Athletic report that he should be fit for the start of the new season.
Harvey Barnes (£7.0m), meanwhile, posted an Instagram story with a video from a small training game saying, ‘felt good to get the boots back on’. The winger underwent two operations on a knee problem picked up in February.
Liverpool
Virgil van Dijk (£6.5m), Joel Matip (£5.0m) and Joe Gomez (£5.0m) are all part of the Liverpool squad travelling to Austria for a pre-season camp. Having been forced to miss EURO 2020 with a thigh injury, Trent Alexander-Arnold (£7.5m) is also in the Reds delegation.
“We look forward to going to Austria again for the start of our pre-season. All the conditions to prepare the team there are just at a very high level. We will use this to go back to basics. When you ask a lot from your players you have to give a lot as well – and we find all of this in Austria.” – Liverpool assistant boss Pep Lijnders
Manchester City
Kevin De Bruyne (£12.0m) revealed after Belgium’s 2-1 defeat to Italy on July 2 that he had played the game with torn ankle ligaments.
“For me personally it has been four or five weird weeks. But I especially want to thank the medical staff. It was a miracle that I played today because there was definitely damage to my ankle, a tear in my ligaments. But I felt responsibility to play for my country today. Too bad I couldn’t do more.” – De Bruyne
Manchester United
Mason Greenwood (£7.5m) withdrew from England contention ahead of EURO 2020 with an unspecified injury. The FPL midfielder has been pictured by the club in pre-season training, however.
Norwich
Canaries captain Grant Hanley (£4.5m) suffered a hamstring injury in Scotland’s final EURO 2020 group tie, though no prognosis has been offered on the defender.
Fellow Scot Kenny McLean (£5.0m) picked up a knee injury in Norwich’s final game of the season. He told the BBC of his recuperation:
It’s been eight weeks and I was originally told 12 (to complete my recovery) but the last couple of weeks with the physio have not gone quite as well as I’d have hoped for. I’ve not progressed too much. Twelve weeks would give me two weeks pre-season before Liverpool (on the opening day of the new season).
I think we’re in a good place. Last time we went up, we were a bit fragile and conceded a lot of goals. But we’re harder to beat now and the manager has been building a team that can compete in the Premier League.
Wolves
Pedro Neto (£6.5m) is set to miss the start of the season. The Athletic reported a six-month layoff for the winger after the April 12 injury. Ex-Wolves boss Nuno said of Neto on May 21:
He had surgery, it will take some time for him to come back but we’ll see the same fantastic player really soon. It won’t be at the beginning of next season, just a bit ahead.
Daniel Podence (£5.5m) is another injury worry for Wolves heading into the new campaign, having undergone surgery on a groin injury. On May 18, now Spurs boss Nuno said of the attacker:
We hope [Daniel Podence will] be fit for the beginning of August.
Jonny (£4.5m) is also sidelined after undergoing knee ligament surgery in April.
Raul Jimenez (£7.5m) is taking a full part in Wolves’ pre-season training after his awful head injury last season.
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