Sheffield United man undergoes operation after horror injury as Wolves respond to "unacceptable" challenge
Sheffield United starlet undergoes operation after horror injury as Wolves response revealed
Sai Sachdev, the Sheffield United defender, has had surgery on his injured leg after a horror tackle sustained on duty with the U21s this week. The England youth international was taken to hospital after the injury late on in the midweek win over Wolves, which was curtailed early while the defender received lengthy treatment.
Louie Marsh, the 19-year-old’s Blades teammate, said that Sachdev would “come back stronger and fitter” in a post on social media and added: “on the flip side, unacceptable challenge with minutes if not seconds to go ... hope the Wolves lad learns his lesson about last night.”
Chris Wilder, the United boss, went to visit Sachdev in hospital this week and revealed that he had received a call from Matt Hobson, the sporting director at Molineux, to check on the defender’s welfare. “I went up to see him yesterday,” Wilder said. “It's really disappointing. These things happen, I had a talk with the young players and it's rocked us a lot.
“The mood's been pretty sombre about the place because we feel for him. He’s been involved with the first team, and an international. He got on the pitch at Norwich and he’s lovely lad from a great family, as well as one of a number of promising players from the academy. So we’re all deeply disappointed but he's in good hands.
“He had an operation Thursday afternoon and we saw him yesterday, me and the club doctor Bryan English. Our docs and staff have been outstanding. We've had to step back a bit because for a young player to be on the end of a challenge and what happened afterwards is deeply disappointing for everyone at the club. It's been felt by everyone.”
Wilder admitted that it was “too soon” for a prognosis on the length of time Sachdev would miss through the horror injury. “He had the option to have it pinned or caged and he's gone for the cage, so he can weight bear,” the Blades boss added. “He's coming out tomorrow. We've got good people here and they've looked after him. There's a sense of care around and feeling.
“It shows for me this is a caring football club, from the medical guys and coaches and his teammates in the first team and the U21s. He'll get plenty of support off the pitch. It'll be a long recovery for him but we'll be here for him and we’ll be delighted when we see him back up here, and get him back up to doing what he does best, which is being a talented young footballer.
“Physically he's got to overcome a lot of hurdles, and from a mentality point of view too. But he's a strong and tough boy so there's no doubts. He needs a bit of luck along the way but he has the characteristics to suggest that he can get back to where he belongs. And the support will be there for him.”
“There are two sides and I appreciate the call from Matt at Wolves,” Wilder added. “We’d do the same if it was the other way around and they’re going to have a look into what happened. I thank them for [the call]. Let's all get off social media now and let the boy recover.”