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Kent could face eight weeks out as injury specialist makes “don’t have to rush” claim

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Image for Kent could face eight weeks out as injury specialist makes “don’t have to rush” claim

It almost felt like it was just a matter of time, having missed a large period of pre-season training, Ryan Kent has struggled for fitness since he first kicked a ball – aside from an impressive performance against Real Madrid, he has looked a shadow of his true self.

For a player who is known for his speed he, at times, has looked slow and unable to put on the after-burners to take him away from opposition defenders, culminating in pulling up with a hamstring injury which could see him sit on the sidelines for a considerable period of time.

We’ve seen in the past that if a player is rushed back to fitness too quickly that they never fully recover and, speaking to Football Insider, injury specialist Ben Dinnery, reckons that it could be as long as two months before he is back to his best:

“What I would say about Ryan and hamstring injuries in general, because of the risks accosiated with coming back from those types of knocks, you don’t want to push them too hard.

“Being out for three to four weeks can easily turn into eight or potentially even longer.

“The international break provides an opportunity for players to avoid rushing back.

“As always, when talking about the pressures of the game, players want to be back as soon as possible, managers want them back as soon as possible.

“The international break is a buffer zone. It’s an opportunity to forget about playing.

“‘Let’s just go through the rehab process at a nice pace, we don’t have to rush. We want to make sure the player can go out there in prime condition and stay fit for the rest of the season’.”

Dinnery is right in that this type of injury for a dynamic player like Kent can easily become more problematic, that extra 5-10% acceleration that explosive players have also make them more susceptible to muscle injuries, unfortunately, it’s hard to tell if a player is 100% until they replicate the movement that saw them sidelined in the first place.

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International breaks are usually frustrating but for the likes of Kent, it means that he isn’t missing more games than he normally would, by the time domestic action kicks off again after the next one, it will be four weeks since he went off against Lyon and could be there or there abouts, he is, usually, a fast healer.

Either way, hopefully, the real Kent returns on the other side because the one we’ve seen so far is an imposter, a cheap copy of the player that tormented defences at home and abroad last season.

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