Medical expert issues ‘four-month’ Kurt Zouma absence reveal after West Ham latest
Kurt Zouma is expected to be back fit at West Ham within the next month but his knee injury could have easily seen him sidelined for four months.
That is the opinion 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.
Zouma suffered an ACL injury back in 2016 while playing for Chelsea and has had persistent issues with his knee ever since.
The French centre-back finally addressed the issue through surgery this winter, and David Moyes happily reported last month (24 December) that Zouma is doing “really well” and is “ahead of schedule” in terms of recovery.
Dinnery explains that Zouma’s injury could have set him back another four months had it been more extensive.
“There are painful conditions that can flare up with these kinds of meniscus problems and while you can get through most day-to-day with a bit of management, we saw against Leicester that he was struggling pre-match,” Dinnery told Football Insider’s Sean Fisher.
“Ultimately he did start in that match but didn’t last too long.
“The decision to go under the knife coincided quite well with the winter break and he is progressing well with that in terms of recovery.
“The success rates are really good in terms of returning to those pre-injury optimum levels, and I predict Zouma will bounce back well when he returns.
“In terms of the surgery, we’re talking about anything from a partial meniscectomy to something which may be more significant, but the fact he was able to play and manage that condition for so long probably suggests it wasn’t too serious.
“If we were talking about something more extensive, we would certainly be pushing more towards a four-month period on the sidelines, possibly even longer.
“But that’s certainly not the case with Zouma who is progressing really well. The next game or two is probably not realistic, but he could return at some point this month.“
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