United boss Paul Simpson confirmed the bad news that was feared when Josh Kayode’s name was missing from the Saturday teamhseet when he spoke about a nasty shoulder injury that will keep the Rotherham loanee out for a prolonged period of time.
“It’s not good news with JJ,” he told us. “He dislocated his shoulder in the Accrington game when he got smashed on the edge of the box.
“We think what must’ve happened is that he rolled over, it popped out, and then popped back in with a similar sort of movement.
“He had it taped up and he said he was fine, and he felt ok. It started to stiffen up, and it was earlier this week where he said something just didn’t feel right.
“He went for a scan and it’s a torn muscle in the shoulder, which needs surgery. That will happen on 26 September and we’re expecting him to be out for 12 weeks, possibly.
“It’s a huge blow for us, but more importantly it’s a massive blow for JJ. He’s really settled in and I can assure you that I was looking forward to seeing him getting fitter and stronger.
“This has happened so the fact is that it opens the door for somebody else. As we saw Ryan Edmondson came back onto the bench, Luke Plange started, he got his goal, and we have Sean, Terry and Garns all wanting it as well. Everybody wants to be out there and helping.”
“In the challenge that caused it I was more concerned about his ankle, but that was fine,” he continued. 2With him landing and it going in and out he’s torn the ligament on the shoulder.
“He wanted to carry on last week and get through the Stevenage game, so the doctor had examined him, and there was no sign of a dislocation.
“It’s similar to what Ryan Edmondson did last year, and he was back in ten weeks, so fingers crossed JJ comes back in a good state. He’s really keen to get back playing, he was so happy to be here and playing football.
“The challenge now is for us to rally round JJ make sure he’s in a good mental state and that he gets all the help and recovery he needs to get back.”
On how his rehab will pan out, he explained: “He’s not going to be with us for the first part of it up until surgery. We’re waiting for confirmation, but we think because he can’t actually do any physical stuff, he just has to build the strength, we think he’ll stay with Rotherham for the first part.
“I think the timescale is four weeks until he can join in non-contact football. If thats the case we want him back with us, if Rotherham will allow that. Then maybe at eight weeks he can do full contact and we can get him back in the swing of things.
“If he’s anything like Ryan he may be back before the 12 week mark, but that’s the timescale we’re looking at.”
On how a player who just wants to be getting on with things has reacted, he said: “I spoke to him last night, we only found out yesterday when he saw the surgeon that he was having the surgery.
“He seems ok. He’s obviously gutted, he just wants to get it dealt with and move on and get himself back as quick as he possibly can. We’ll be there to help him.
“I’m sure Rotherham will be there to help him as well. We’ve just got to get it right. When the challenge happened, I thought it was a red card.
“I couldn’t understand the word back was they thought there was a clear goalscoring opportunity so they played the advantage, so couldn’t give a red.
“I thought it was his ankle we were going to have a problem with, but that was fine. He landed awkwardly, we’ve looked at the video back, and it’s one of those innocuous ones you can’t do anything about.
“But we’ll get him right and hopefully he’ll come back and have an effect in the second half of the season.”
