Kieran Trippier’s first Championship outing for Wolves lasted only as long as the club’s season-opening fixture against Blackburn Rovers before it ended in injury. Wolves have now confirmed the defender suffered damage to the medial ligament in his left knee during Friday night’s game, ruling him out for “a number of weeks.”
What the club has said
Director of performance Phil Hayward gave the update on Trippier’s condition, describing the issue as an injury to the MCL — “the medial ligament of the knee.” Hayward compared it to a similar injury suffered recently by teammate Rafiki Said, though he was clear the two cases aren’t of equal severity.
“Unfortunately, during the game on Friday night Kieran suffered an injury to his left MCL, the medial ligament of the knee, not dissimilar to Rafiki’s injury a few weeks ago, although this is a lot less severe,” Hayward said.
That comparison offers some reassurance, even if the timeline still points to a lengthy spell out. Trippier has been placed in a brace and received an injection on Wednesday aimed at accelerating the healing process. Hayward was careful not to attach a firm date to his return.
“It’s unfortunate that he’s going to be out now for a number of weeks. He will be in a brace for the next week… but he’s going to be out for the next few weeks as he rehabs from that. Obviously, we’ll push him as quickly as we can, but it’s going to be a few weeks before he’s back on the pitch unfortunately,” Hayward said.
A debut cut short
The injury came in Wolves’ Championship opener, meaning Trippier’s first appearance for the club in league colours ended prematurely rather than as the kind of debut either side would have wanted. No further detail was given on how the injury occurred.
Mosquera also sidelined
Trippier wasn’t the only defender to pick up an injury against Blackburn. Yerson Mosquera will also be out for a period after scans on Sunday revealed a high ankle ligament injury, sustained late in the same match.
Hayward noted it is a less common type of ligament injury, and — importantly — not a complete tear.
“It’s not a particularly common ligament injury and it’s not a complete tear to the ligament, which is good news, however he will still be out for a few weeks,” Hayward said.
Mosquera is set to have an injection this week to aid recovery, will spend a couple of weeks in a protective boot, and will then need further time away from training before he’s fit to return.
Positive news elsewhere
Amid the fresh injury concerns, Hayward pointed to encouraging progress from three players working their way back to fitness.
Rafiki Said, whose earlier knee ligament injury was referenced as a benchmark for Trippier’s case, is now out of his brace and has been cleared for running on an anti-gravity treadmill, which allows him to build up load with reduced body weight. Hayward said the plan is to have him back outside training within days, starting with straight-line running before progressing to off-centre movement and ball work.
Jean-Ricner Bellegarde has also returned to outdoor training and is doing extensive ball work, though the club is managing his reintroduction carefully given the reinjury risk that comes with exposing hamstring injuries to maximum sprint speeds too soon. Hayward said Bellegarde is expected to rejoin the main training group within a couple of weeks.
Goalkeeper Sam Johnstone, meanwhile, has been back in full training for several weeks following shoulder surgery and has handled a gradually increasing training load well. Hayward said Johnstone has full range of movement, with only slight difficulty in some specific positions, and is expected to be back to full fitness within the next week.
