‘Simple and innocuous’ – How Chelsea star Sam Kerr suffered ACL damage as Emma Hayes reacts to WSL season-ending injury

The Australia international picked up an unfortunate knock during the Blues’ winter training camp in Morocco. She is not expected to figure again in the current campaign, with a long road to recovery being mapped out in front of the 30-year-old forward – who has become the latest prominent figure in the women’s game to damage knee ligaments.

Chelsea boss Hayes has told Sky Sports of how Kerr was laid low: “Doing a football action she does every day – turning and shooting. Something every simple and innocuous. This is not the moment to talk about how those things happen. Injuries do happen in football – they happen in men’s and women’s football. Sometimes we have a confirmation bias around ACL injuries, but they happen in the sport regardless of why they happen.”

Hayes added, with Kerr preparing to go under the knife: “She’s having surgery today. Gutted for her, gutted for the team. These things happen in football. She knows that. I think the important thing is we are here to support her, the recovery, the rehab begins today.”

Kerr will be a big miss for Chelsea, as they seek to defend their WSL title, but Hayes said of the need to move on as a collective: “I know Sam would expect me to say nothing less. Our focus has to be on the players that are fit. We have a quality squad and it's a good challenge for me as a coach to find those solutions. I trust in the squad we have and we have added to that as well. The focus and the attention has to go on the players that are here.”

Chelsea sit top of the WSL standings for now, ahead of a return to action on January 14 against West Ham in the FA Women’s Cup, with Hayes taking in a long goodbye as she prepares to take the USWNT reins in the summer of 2024.