Estêvão was forced off early on in Saturday night’s game against Manchester United with an apparent hamstring injury, and while initial hopes were that it wouldn’t be too bad of a problem, reports today are indicating otherwise. In fact, he may have suffered the worst possible version.
Most healthcare providers categorize muscle strains into three grades: mild (Grade 1), moderate (Grade 2), or severe (Grade 3). But The Athletic, and several other outlets, are calling it a “Grade 4” hamstring strain fro
Estêvão! I’m not sure how much worse a Grade 4 might be over what’s usually defined as Grade 3, which is a complete tear, but either way, it’s likely to result in a multi-month absence, perhaps as long as six or more if there’s surgery involved. And surgery is commonly recommended as the best course of treatment for a Grade 3 injury.
Either way, Estêvão’s certainly out for the rest of the season and probably the World Cup as well. And if he needs surgery, then it might be a few months into next season before we see him again. Not great!
The youngster is two days shy of his 19th birthday, and thus finished the season with 36 appearances (20 starts) across all competitions with 8 goals and 4 assists. Not too shabby for his first season in Europe. Presumably he will only get better, though first we will have to make absolutely sure that he fully recovers from this injury and it doesn’t become a recurring one like it so often happens.
