It would appear that Reece James needed surgery after all to fix the ankle ligament injury he suffered at the start of the summer while playing for England U21 at the Toulon Tournament.
Initial reports of a broken ankle and many months out were proven false and it looked like the 19-year-old would be able to recover without needing surgery. In fact, last week he was already back to running and even posted a video on social media that showed his progress on the training ground.
So it was a bit of a shock when he posted a post-op photo of himself in the hospital Thursday night, captioning it with a motivational “minor setbacks for major comebacks” line.
“I’m thankful Surgery went well this evening. Minor set backs for major come backs! See you all soon! Thanks for the support.”
While it’s not been confirmed that the surgery was specifically for the same ankle problem, the assumption, like Sky Sports are doing, seems safe to be made. James was expected to be back by the end of preseason, but it’s not clear how badly this “minor” setback will affect that timeline.
Get well soon, Reece!