The footballing career of Tottenham defender Jonathan Woodgate is seemingly teetering over the proverbial precipice after the blindingly obvious has finally dawned on him, his manager Harry Redknapp and everybody that populates every echelon within the club with he is currently employed – that his perpetually recurring groin injury is completely and utterly ‘untreatable’.
Woodgate has been out of action since last November with after suffering another bout of knack, and has been filling his down-time by zig-zagging between specialists in Australia and America in a bid to overcome the persistent problem. However, none of the various treatments are having any visible effect, and it is feared that the 30-year-old may have to go under the surgeon’s knife to prolong his career which, rather adversely, would entail having to spend a further year on the sidelines.
Redknapp summed up the defensive dilemma in the Guardian;
“We’ve got to give Jonathan every chance but it has been a year and it’ll be another year if he has to have an operation. There’s no treatment for it really. We’re looking for a cure, but the specialist he went to see in Australia didn’t help.”
Woodgate has already been omitted from Spurs’ 25-man Premier League squad, so theobvious conclusion is that he isn’t expected to return to the fold any time soon. Redknapp always has the option of adding him to the roster in January, but given his pessimistic prognosis, a return is almost certainly going to be pencilled in for the start of next season – if he gets that far.
I’m afraid to say that there is a huge ‘R’ looming over the stricken centre-back’s head at the moment. The very real threat of enforced retirement is hanging perilously like the sword of Damocles, and Woodgate would be wise to give it some serious thought as the long-term health issues of being constantly (and temporarily) darned by various surgeons are considerable.
It’s a real shame as, ‘Woody’ really could have been a great defender, he had the innate class, potential and wherewithal, but sadly his body has only served to fail him at crucial periods down through the years – and, to many observers, the fact that he has span out a career past the age of 30 is almost as baffling as the nature of his ailment.
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