Attacking midfielder Pernille Harder has revealed that she underwent an operation on her hamstring following the injury she suffered over the international break with Denmark earlier this month, with a Chelsea statement confirming that she’s expected to miss a “significant period” of time.
The timing of the injury is doubly unfortunate as unlike men’s football, which is on hiatus due to the World Cup, women’s football is continuing on, with Chelsea set to take on Real Madrid in the Champions League group stage next. The Blues have also just moved back to the top of the WSL after the weekend’s 3-0 win over Spurs — albeit having played one game more than Arsenal and Manchester City.
Harder’s still second on the team in scoring with 6 goals in 6 appearances in all competitions. She also leads the team in open-play shot creating actions and has been second only to Kerr in terms of shots, shot-assists, non-penalty xG and xA (though these are all small sample sizes).
Harder is one of several players who are in the final year of their contracts (see also: club captain, and long-time partner Magdalena Eriksson), and an injury like this is sure to add a few wrinkles to potential talks. However, Chelsea have been announcing renewals at a steady pace (Carter, Fleming, Cuthbert) and hopefully we will soon hear good news about Harder and Eriksson as well.
Wishing Pernille a speedy recovery!!