The night after the 1st key procedure of his career, a stricken Lewis Ferguson lay propped up by pillows and soreness killers in Bologna’s Toniolo Clinic. Football on the tv only fuelled mental demons tap-dancing all over his thoughts.
AC Milan faced Roma in the to start with leg of their Europa League quarter-final. And, as Gianluca Mancini rose to nod the only objective of the activity, the Scotland international glanced at his swollen knee and tortured himself with what ifs?
The greatest-scoring Scot in Serie A history, the 24-12 months-outdated had claimed 6 ambitions in Bologna’s exceptional pursuit of Champions League soccer. Now dealing with months on the sidelines, he wondered when he would ever sample the joy of scoring towards Europe’s elite — and, if he did, would his shattered knee hold out?
‘I was viewing that recreation wondering: “It’s extremely hard that I will be in a position to move like this again”,’ Ferguson tells Mail Activity in his initial interview since the procedure.
‘You are lying there in hospital, just out of surgical treatment, your knee is enormous and you do not sense fantastic. That is what goes by means of your head: “How is it feasible that I will at any time move the very same as these fellas I am watching here on Tv set?”.’
Assurance came thick and quick. Bologna boss Thiago Motta underwent the exact procedure in the course of a decorated profession and advised his captain he would have a lot more odds to fulfil his ambitions. Scotland manager Steve Clarke was one of the to start with on the telephone with words of convenience.
Bologna’s Lewis Ferguson faces months on sidelines right after his agonising knee injuries
Scotland manager Steve Clarke was just one of the to start with to mobile phone Ferguson and give aid
Previous Aberdeen player Ferguson experienced dreams of participating in a big function for Scots at Euros
Ferguson’s father, Derek, was no stranger to a surgical strategies either during 23 years with Rangers, Hearts and Sunderland. Upcoming 7 days, Ferguson’s mothers and fathers will fly to Italy to supply help and assistance to a youthful man struggling to coming to phrases with the timing of his very first major injuries.
The midfielder was a £20million summer months focus on for Juventus, the two Milan golf equipment and Napoli, with Bologna shut to securing Champions League qualification when his knee packed in all through a – attract with Monza. Outside of that lay a to start with overall look at the Euro 2024 finals with Scotland.
‘Half of it is mental, fifty percent of it is bodily,’ he proceeds. ‘I spoke to the medical doctors and the physios executing my rehab and they all claimed the very same matter. It is just as difficult mentally it is physically.
‘Physically, it is tricky now mainly because you simply cannot go, you are on crutches, your leg is in a brace. You just cannot do nearly anything yourself. I basically can not do nearly anything. My husband or wife Lauren is obtaining to place my apparel on for me and wash me. Actually, it’s soul destroying.
‘I’m on the sofa all day using a device to ice my leg and viewing Television, waiting around for the time to move.
‘It has been seriously tough. Men and women outside the house of soccer may well glimpse at it as a footballer currently being hurt and component of football, of class.
‘But most of my happiness comes from just taking part in football and, in an quick, it just will get taken away from you.’
Milan actively playing Roma was a relief in comparison to the movie horrible he’d watched the evening in advance of. The operation to restore his ACL, medial ligament and meniscus was beamed on to a display in the procedure theatre. In a gruesome scenario, the former Aberdeen player viewed the jogging repairs to the knee which experienced been ripped to bits for the duration of an innocuous break up-next problem in the goalless attract with Monza.
‘My foot was planted and the boy came in to tackle me,’ he claims. ‘His knee caught the side of my knee at higher impression and it was just seriously undesirable timing.
‘I experienced never ever been hurt ahead of in my daily life so I did not truly know what type of discomfort to expect.
‘It was unpleasant when it transpired and the referee asked me if I needed the physios on.
‘I in fact reported no since I just wished to get on with the sport.
‘So I stood up and tried using to perform on for five or six minutes.
‘I was in ache when I was managing and the 2nd time I bought the ball I passed it and my knee was just so unstable. I realized then there was a major problem.’
The product of a footballing dynasty, Ferguson has generally been much less emotional than his father or his uncle Barry, the former Rangers and Scotland captain. That altered when they informed him his dreams of participating in in the Euros and next season’s Champions League had been in excess of. He can continue to feel the stinging in the eyes now.
Ferguson was a £20m focus on for Juventus and the Milan golf equipment in advance of his injuries lay-off
‘I could explain to from the glance on the doctors’ faces in the shifting place soon after the recreation that it was not very good,’ provides Ferguson.
‘You just get a experience something is not appropriate and I went house with the brace and the crutches and waited for the scan to see what the hurt was.
‘The aid I received was completely wonderful. Followers, relatives, team-mates.
‘It was hard due to the fact it is challenging for any individual to say anything at all that will make you really feel any far better. It did put a smile on my face at times.’
Fourth in Serie A with five video games to participate in, Bologna are almost there. Motta claims his captain can not be replaced and, before the stunning 3-1 acquire around Roma in the Stadio Olympico which took them a action nearer to the Champions League, team-mates took to the pitch carrying Ferguson’s No 19 shirt in a exhibit of assistance. It was held aloft through the write-up-match celebrations. ‘When they held up my strip with my No 19 on it, that was awesome,’ he claims.
‘It meant an awful whole lot for the reason that these are the men that I coach with and I engage in with and I have these a very good romance with.
‘They produced me come to feel so included. Even after they gained, they FaceTimed me in the changing area and built me experience I was nonetheless portion of it, which was really nice.
‘It’s these kinds of a close team and I truly imagine that is just one of the motives we have been so thriving.’
The Euros are absent, but the Champions League aspiration could nonetheless be revived. Sensibly, Ferguson will not speculate on the chance of returning to motion in advance of the team stage finishes in December. The knee is in a lousy way and Bologna have nevertheless to get there in any case.
Months of gruelling rehabilitation lie in advance. This is where by the gym habit produced at the age of 15 arrives into its individual.
‘We moved property and I could not get the bus to university with my buddies any longer,’ claims Ferguson.
‘I could have bought a bus myself, but I preferred to go with my dad. So he warned me that if I wasn’t likely to go on the bus I would have to depart with him at fifty percent seven each early morning.
‘I would go to the fitness center and do a bit before university and that grew to become a component of my daily life.
‘I’ll be in there fairly significantly each and every day now doing the job on items.
‘It will just take a great mentality to get by means of this.
‘But I’m guaranteed I have what it will take to get back suit. I know my sturdy mentality will be analyzed in the coming months, but I am positive I will be wonderful.’
