Medical expert fears Ricardo Pereira may ‘never be the same’ again after Leicester City latest
Some players never return to pre-injury levels after an ACL injury – so Leicester City are right to be uber cautious with Ricardo Pereira.
That is the view of injury expert Ben Dinnery, who runs the Premier Injuries site and has a background in medicine and data analysis.
Pereira, 28, has struggled with a litany of injury concerns since he return from a 10-month ACL rupture in January last year.
A hamstring complaint sidelined him for several games earlier in the season and he suffered a fractured fibula in December.
As quoted by Leicestershire Live last Friday (4 March), Brendan Rodgers revealed that the right-back is again struggling with a hamstring problem.
Dinnery explained that the “sad reality” is that persistent problems are common after so long on the sidelines.
“His season has been very stop-start and it goes all the way back to that ACL rupture,” he told Football Insider‘s Adam Williams.
“There were high levels of expectation because pre-injury he was in top form. But we need to understand that players can’t return to those levels overnight.
“The sad reality is that some players may never be the same. We have seen glimpses from Pereira but he’s been blighted by little setbacks.
“Football is a contact sport and sometimes you’re just unlucky. That factored into that leg fracture. His hamstring problems are a separate issue.
“Brendan Rodgers will look to protect him. They will take things nice and easy until the end of the season.
“They will be looking at a total reset in pre-season. There’s no need to take any unnecessary risks with Pereira.”
Pereira’s 16 appearances this season have yielded one goal and two assists.
He was absent for the Foxes’ 2-0 Europa Conference League last-16 first-leg win against Stade Rennais last night (10 March).
In other news, expert claims Jonny Evans has “exposed” the “brutal reality” at Leicester City.