Another lost season for Tino Anjorin after ‘significant’ ankle injury, surgery

After just 437 minutes of football across his two loan spells last season, Tino Anjorin’s current season could be over after just 479, after the 21-year-old forward underwent ankle surgery this week and has, at least for now but perhaps for the rest of the season, returned to Chelsea from his loan at Huddersfield Town.

Anjorin’s lack of minutes haven’t been for a lack of skill or lack of effort; in fact, at Lokomotiv he was set to be a cornerstone of their future and at Huddersfield he’s been a firm fan-favorite, rejoining for a second spell in the summer. But the football gods have been especially cruel with their injuries. Anjorin broke a metatarsal last November that kept him out for four months and developed “glandular fever” in late September of this year from which he had just returned to first-team training.

He was set to feature in Huddersfield’s match against Sheffield United last weekend, but rolled his ankle — evidently quite badly — in training just the day before. Prior to his illness, he had started 6 of their 9 games in all competitions.

“He had surgery and Chelsea have been dealing with that alongside the medical staff. [We are] going to have dialogue with Chelsea [about his future].

“He’s a player we really think the world of, he’s very well respected and liked in the group and by the fans. He’s a real fans’ favourite. We’re just really disappointed for him and his family. [...] First and foremost we’re just concerned and worried about Tino’s welfare because we know he’s going to be very mentally down now due to that injury.

“Tino was a big player for us because he brings a lot of creativity in the final third and we’re just really sad for him because he worked so hard in the training camp and we all know what it’s like as a young player to deal with a bad injury. It’s mentally tough.

“He showed real toughness to get back in great shape and it’s just unfortunate he’s suffered this bad injury. We’ve got to help and support him the best we can and we understand these things happen in football.

“I’m sure he’ll come back even stronger.”

-Mark Fotheringham; source: Yorkshire Post

Anjorin has two and a half years left on his Chelsea contract, so he has plenty of time to recover from this latest setback and get back on track for what had looked like such a greatly promising future not that long ago.