Romain Vincelot ready to go at Shrewsbury Town
Shrewsbury’s Romain Vincelot is ready to return to the first team having recovered from his historic hip operation ahead of schedule.
Back in October, the midfielder became the first footballer to follow in the footsteps of tennis superstar Andy Murray and undergo successful hip resurfacing surgery.
The operation was led by specialist Damien Griffin and saw the ball of Vincelot’s hip joint smoothed down and covered with a metal cap.
A layer of metal was also placed in the pelvic socket in which it sits.
Ten months after his surgery, Murray won the ATP European title in Belgium.
And Vincelot has also enjoyed a hugely successful rehabilitation – with Shrewsbury confirming he would have been in the squad to face Coventry had football not been suspended due to the coronavirus outbreak.
On Saturday morning, Town tweeted: “Sam Ricketts has revealed that Romain Vincelot was due to feature in today’s squad.
“In just over four months since his groundbreaking hip-resurfacing procedure, Romain and the Town backroom staff have defied the odds with such a quick rehabilitation time.
“Fantastic Romain!”
Vincelot then responded.
“Happy, proud and gutted of the timing,” the midfielder said while ending the sentence with a laughing face emoji.
“I have a lot of people to thank but I can be superstitious at times so I’ll wait until I appear officially on that match day grass I miss so much.”
Town fitness coach Andy Johnson added: “You just can’t program desire. He (Vincelot) would happily do four months rehab for even four minutes back out there.
“Been a joy to watch you work Romain Vincelot. Ultimate respect.”
Meanwhile, Town boss Ricketts has revealed he allowed Ryan Sears to join Telford on loan for a month to ensure he is up to speed in time for pre-season.
Sears made his first-team breakthrough towards the end of the 2018/19 campaign. But he then suffered an anterior cruciate ligament injury in training.
“Ryan broke into the team during the back end of last season and was doing very, very well but unfortunately got injured,” Ricketts said.
“This move is purely an opportunity for him to get a number of games in before the end of the season, so when he comes back in for pre-season he’s had some good game time and proper action.
“We want this to kick-start him so he’s ready for pre-season.”
