"Not good news..." - More injury woe for Sheffield United man as season ended by "unfortunate" incident
"Not good news..." - More injury woe for Sheffield United man as season ended by "unfortunate" incident
Unfortunate Sheffield United defender Rhys Norrington-Davies has suffered more injury misfortune, after he was forced to go under the knife to correct an issue that has ended his season. The Wales international had two lengthy spells out of the game with serious hamstring injuries and has endured a stop-start campaign so far.
He recently started in the U21s against Birmingham City in a bid to gain some more valuable minutes but didn’t make it to half-time before he was replaced with a groin injury after an innocuous tackle. The 25-year-old will play no further part for the Blades this season after undergoing an operation, with sights now set on returning to fitness ahead of the next term.
"It's not good news regarding Rhys,” boss Chris Wilder said ahead of tomorrow’s clash with Bristol City at Bramall Lane. “He's had an operation on his groin area, a really unfortunate injury - a block tackle and the force of the challenge and the force of the injury sees him out for the rest of the season.
"It's disappointing for him. It's not going to be affecting his next season but he'll just miss out the end of this season. It's disappointing for him because he's due a bit of luck and hopefully he'll get himself right and get that bit of luck he deserves."
Norrington-Davies’ torrid time with injuries saw his dream of representing his country at the World Cup in 2022 wrecked and after he fought back to fitness, a hamstring issue in the other leg then left him sidelined again. In the meantime United signed fellow left-backs Harrison Burrows and Sam McCallum, who will now compete for that position for the rest of the season while Norrington-Davies begins the lonely rehabilitation process once more.
Wilder admitted previously that “it didn’t look good” for the defender, adding: “Sometimes you just need a bit of luck. We've had it with other players we have namechecked as well ... Rhys is one of those. He has planted his right foot, and it is just an innocuous block tackle that has obviously just tweaked something in the groin area.
"He had to go for the tackle. It is nothing to do with previous injuries, nothing to do with his attitude, nothing to do with him being under-prepared or whatever. He's a top pro; he's a top trainer and he's just been really unfortunate that the force of that has resulted in that injury."
Norrington-Davies, who came through the Blades’ academy, signed a new and improved deal at Bramall Lane last year, tying him to the Blades until at least the summer of 2027. After impressing Wilder and his coaching staff in their first spell in South Yorkshire he was seen as a potential successor to Jack O’Connell in the left centre-half role and loan spells at Luton Town and Stoke City saw him return to the Lane ready to kick on.
His form for the Blades saw him virtually cement his place in Wales’ thinking for the Qatar World Cup, under former Blade Robert Page, before a serious hamstring injury away at Coventry City wrecked those hopes and set him on the back foot in terms of fitness.
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