Expert issues ‘major’ Dominic Solanke claim after ‘freak’ Bournemouth setback
Bournemouth are right to be concerned about Dominic Solanke’s recovery after he suffered a “freak” knee injury in training.
That is the view of medical expert Ben Dinnery, who runs the Premier Injuries site and has a background in injury and data analysis, speaking exclusively to Football Insider.
Solanke missed Bournemouth’s 2-0 defeat to Brentford in January and was also absent from the 1-1 draw against Nottingham Forest a week later amid struggles with a knee injury.
Cherries boss Gary O’Neil revealed after the Brentford match that Solanke had suffered his injury in training while making an awkward landing away from any teammates.
Following the news that Solanke would spend some time in the treatment room, Bournemouth dipped into the transfer market to complete a £10.5million deal for Bristol City striker Antoine Semenyo.
Dinnery raised concern that a non-contact injury such as Solanke’s has a serious risk of becoming a “major” issue for the player.
“A non-contact injury can always be a major worry for a club, and there’s always more concern from the outside looking in when a player goes down on his own,” Dinnery told Football Insider.
“But it all comes down to the injury itself.
“The nature of the injury doesn’t necessarily mean it’s always going to be at the top end of that severity scale.
“In this case, Solanke has jumped and landed awkwardly in training while nowhere near his teammates, so it is a bit of a freak injury.
“He’s jarred his knee, which is a painful setback and one that will cause him to miss a few games.
“But an extended break without FA Cup football came at a good time for the Cherries and it gave Solanke chance to recover and put himself back in contention sooner rather than later.“
In other news, Liverpool have a ‘huge’ Mohamed Salah ‘problem’ after Jurgen Klopp fumes