Sam Kerr takes huge step on road to recovery from serious knee injury

Sam Kerr is stepping up her recovery from a long-term knee injury at Chelsea as she joins the English champions on their mid-season training camp in Portugal.

The Matildas’ captain Kerr hasn’t been in a Chelsea squad in the last 12 months after she suffered an anterior cruciate ligament injury at the equivalent warm-weather training break in Morocco last January.

Head coach Sonia Bompastor said last month that Kerr was expected to make her eagerly awaited return to action in either February or March. Yet the news of her involvement in the Portugal camp points to a possibility that she might be back even earlier than hoped.

Chelsea have said that both Kerr and United States striker Mia Fishel, who is also on the trip after suffering her own ACL injury last February, won’t be training with the rest of the squad as they concentrate on their own recovery.

Kerr herself has made it clear she won’t be rushing back until she is completely satisfied she is fully fit. The 31-year-old also said on a BBC podcast last September that she had a “little bit more going on than an ACL”.

T4 is BACK! 🤩 pic.twitter.com/ElKr70Bkpf — Chelsea FC Women (@ChelseaFCW) January 3, 2025

Though the Matildas’ interim coach Tom Sermanni will be delighted she’s back in training at Chelsea, Australia’s appearance at the She Believes Cup in the USA in February will come too soon for Kerr to return to the national team.

“Things are getting a little bit better in rehab, but in reality it’s still probably a 12-month injury, and Sam’s taking that time to come back to ensure that hopefully, when she comes back, she’s going to be completely fit and healthy,” Sermanni said in November.

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It will be no cakewalk for Kerr to get straight back into the team that she’s graced for so long, with unbeaten Chelsea having won 15 out of all their 16 matches this term and having soared six points clear in the Women’s Super League race in her absence. Chelsea have also reached the quarter-finals of the Women’s Champions League with a perfect winning record.

But the sight of Kerr posing for photos with her star teammates Millie Bright, Erin Cuthbert and Guro Reiten – known as the club’s ‘Fantastic Four’ – on the Chelsea’s official X feed will give the Blues another boost. After their training week in Portugal, Chelsea will resume action against Charlton in the fourth round of their Women’s FA Cup defence at their Kingsmeadow home on 12 January.

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