Chelsea and England forward Fran Kirby has been ruled out for the “foreseeable future” after suffering from fatigue.
Kirby has not played since February and this latest setback puts her participation at Euro 2022 this summer is now in doubt.
Chelsea boss Emma Hayes said there is no “definitive reason” behind the fatigue and that more investigation is needed to reach a firm diagnosis.
What was said?
Speaking at a news conference previewing this weekend’s Women’s FA Cup semi-final against Arsenal, Hayes confirmed Kirby would be sidelined for some time.
“There’s no chance of her playing at the weekend. She’s been taking some time in the background, she’s been suffering with a lot of fatigue. I don’t have a definitive reason why that is, we don’t know,” said Hayes.
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“I think, forget the athlete, [she’s] just a human being and she’s struggling and we have to get to the bottom of that. I don’t think Fran will be available for club and country until that happens.
"I’m not withholding [information], because I don’t have anything to tell you, because we haven’t got to the bottom of it. Until we understand some of the underlying reasons for that fatigue, I’d just be speculating.
“We’re going through a process of elimination to try and determine why she’s struggling. From my perspective, this isn’t the first time, it’s been ongoing for a lot of years. We need to give the time to find the right support so that we can come up with a diagnosis and then with diagnosis, you can come up with strategies. Right now, I don’t have any answers. What I know is that she’s not available for club or country and she won’t be for the foreseeable future.”
'Time to put my health first'
Kirby has previously missed nine months of action after being diagnosed with a heart condition in November 2019.
Responding to this latest setback, the former Reading player wrote on Twitter: “I'm sad that I have to write to you all another message like this.
"With this being an on-going issue throughout my career, it was time to put my health first. Thank you to everyone who has taken the time to message, I'm doing everything to try and come back once again.
"But until then, I will be Chelsea and the Lionesses biggest fan with you all."
Kirby has won 11 major honours with Chelsea since joining from Reading in 2015, including the domestic treble last season.
She has also won 54 caps for England and was expected to play a key role for the Lionesses at this summer's Euros, which is being hosted in England.
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