Is this the end for Swansea City's Ferrie Bodde?
SWANSEA City are waiting for news of Ferrie Bodde's latest knee injury amid fears that the midfielder may be forced to quit football.
Bodde has returned to his native Holland for tests with Swansea concerned that he has suffered another serious cruciate ligament injury. The injury is not in the knee which has given Bodde more than three years of fitness problems.
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Ferrie Bodde
But the extent of the latest problem has led to inevitable questions about whether Bodde will ever be fit to return to action.
"It's devastating for Ferrie to be injured again," said Swansea boss Brendan Rodgers.
"It's been a really, really long journey for him as he has tried to get fit, and he was back training and back playing in the reserves.
"For him to damage his other knee after just a couple of minutes (of the reserve game against Arsenal on Wednesday) is so disappointing.
"Ferrie is a terrific guy and I feel so sad for him."
Swansea have remained patient with Bodde since he first suffered cruciate damage back in November 2008. The former ADO Den Haag player quickly became a cult hero at the Liberty after signing for Swansea in an £85,000 deal nearly five years ago, but his career has been ruined by fitness troubles.
There were question marks about whether Swansea would release the Dutchman when his contract expired last summer but, such is his talent, they handed the 29-year-old a new one-year performance-related deal.
After yet another setback, there are now serious concerns over whether Swansea's patience will be rewarded.
Asked if Bodde may soon have to consider retirement, Rodgers added: "You have to weigh up a number of things if you have a career-threatening injury.
"You have to think about your health — you need to be able to run around with your kids in the garden.
"But it's early to talk about that.
"We have to wait for the swelling to go down on Ferrie's knee before he has the scan and we find out the extent of the injury."
Rodgers revealed that Bodde has been working with the same doctor who helped Petr Cech back into action with Chelsea after he suffered a fractured skull.
"It can be partly psychological in this sort of situation, and we had one of the world's leading neurologists working with Ferrie to try to help him on that side of things.
"The club have given Ferrie all the time and support they could possibly have done."
Meanwhile, Bodde's fellow midfielder Andrea Orlandi has been ruled out for up to six weeks with a hamstring injury.
Gareth Vincent
6 Comments
by KP287
Monday, February 06 2012, 9:26PM
“Ferre, cruciate reconstruction hasn`t worked in Holland, there are some great UK knee surgeons who can get you back playing. In fact some very eminent French surgeons don`t even repair cruciates or collaterals, they work on the quads and supporting muscles...”
by KP287
Monday, February 06 2012, 9:16PM
“Enough is enough Ferre, ACL or PCL reconstruction hasn`t worked in Holland. We have some great sports knee surgeons in the UK, who can get you back playing...”
by hadoken1977
Sunday, February 05 2012, 4:12PM
“Sad news, sounds like its end of the line though (only 29), its happened to lots of players, JAmes Thomas comes to mind, and he's young, so not sure what he'll do for money.
Hopefully the players and club will have a quick whip around for him and send him home with a few quid in his pocket so he can at least look into doing something else with his life, or get get back into education so he can think about the next 35 working years of his life.
Don't matter how fit you are today, they can all get a career ending injury and few footy players can do much else in life, the amount of money they own, I like to think they will each give a few quid to look after their own when the **** hits the fan.”
by GalvGates
Friday, February 03 2012, 8:03PM
“So so sad, the premier league will not see the talent that would have lit up the division.
Best wishes to to Ferrie for what ever he decides the future holds for him.
Lee Dixon said we were a breath of fresh air in this league, can you imagine his comments had Ferrie graced the stage??
Thank you for being a part of Swansea City history.
I hope I am wrong and we will see you again.”
by Jack5y
Friday, February 03 2012, 1:35PM
“I cant see the club (or any other club) giving him a new contract when the present one runs out in the summer.
The club has paid him for the past 3 years without seeing a return for the money. Time to call it a day now.
Good luck to Ferrie for whatever he does in the future back in Holland.”
by trncjack
Friday, February 03 2012, 7:49AM
“IT has been a nightmare few years for fb , and from what has been said , a lot of his problems have been in the head, and when you try to protect the injury you can put to much presure on other parts of the body, there have been many footballers who have carried on playing that have had injuries only to be more or less a cripple when they finish playing ,is it wise now to try and carry on,i think it might be time to hang up the boots ,”