After sustaining an ACL injury at Newcastle United, Emil Krafth has finally made his long-anticipated comeback.
Friday’s 1-1 draw between Newcastle Under-21s and Nottingham Forest Under-21s at Whitley Park featured the Swedish right-back for the first 45 minutes. It was Krafth’s first game since a severe ACL injury he sustained at Tranmere Rovers in August
2022.
His teammates, who were present for the Under-21s game, included Sven Botman, Sean Longstaff, Matt Ritchie, and Alexander Isak.
When asked about his return, Krafth remarked, “I feel great. I’m overjoyed to be playing football once more. It’s been a while, and there have been some setbacks, but it’s great to be back and playing my first 45 minutes.
In an effort to improve his match fitness, Krafth recently to
ok part in an intra-squad practice game with the Newcastle first-team players at the training facility.
“Playing for 45 minutes was the plan,” said Krafth. “I built myself up since I played with the guys 30 minutes earlier, so this was my second game and my next game will be approximately 75 [minutes].
I feel extremely, really fantastic physically. I may be feeling fantastic since I’ve been jogging a lot lately, but I’m prepared for the upcoming game.
Almost the entirety of Newcastle’s fourth-place finish in the Premier League last season was missed by Krafth, who has been out of first-team action for more than 13 months. Krafth was also excluded from United’s Champions League roster due to his injury.
It was quite difficult, Krafth continued. “I had a lot of talks with folks who had done it before, so I knew a little bit about it, but it was my first significant injury and I didn’t really know what to anticipate.
“You shouldn’t return too soon from such a serious injury. I’ve experienced a few setbacks, but I believe that’s typical with an injury like mine.
“I had a back issue, which I believe is caused by the body forgetting the movements a little bit and having to adjust to the loads and everything else when you haven’t been doing it for a long.
“Everything feels good [now], and I’m very happy.”
Leave a Reply