https://www.chelseafc.com/en/news/article/
chilwell-reveals-christmas-day-rehab-setback-and-sets-target-to-refocus-on
Chilwell reveals Christmas Day rehab setback and sets target to refocus on
aiming for success
12 Jul 22
Ben Chilwell has been reflecting on his long road to recovery from a
serious knee injury and the mental strength he needed to get through the
setbacks along the way…
https://i.imgur.com/WqtKnUP.jpg
It was Christmas Day last year when Chilwell realised the plan to nurse
the partial rupture of the anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee
back to working order needed to be adjusted. He had been out for a month
following a clash with Adrien Rabiot in our November Champions League game
against Juventus but the decision had been made to wait for the tear to
repair itself in what was described as a conservative rehab approach.
Yet an aggravation at Cobham quickly led the medical staff to reassess and
it was decided that a surgical repair was necessary. Chilwell went under
the knife a few days later and started the New Year on crutches.
'The plan was for me to watch the boys on Boxing Day and train with the
group that didn't play on the 27th but Christmas Day I was doing a
session on the pitch and just felt it go again,' the defender revealed
earlier this week.
https://i.imgur.com/GaxLUIb.png
'I planted my foot in a rehab session on the grass and my knee buckled
again. It wasn't as painful but it was the same feeling I had against
Juventus [when he sustained the initial damage] and I knew I couldn't go
through my career going through that every month.'
Chilwell's resilience and mentality were key in getting him through those
difficult and lonely months, working initially in the gym and then alone
back out on the grass. He returned as a late substitute in our final-day
Premier League victory over Watford and came back early for pre-season in
order to hit the ground running.
'I was 100 per cent ready to get back into it in January but I was always
quite good with adversity,' he continued. 'In my head the surgery was
done, just crack on with the rehab, get stronger and fitter, it will
improve me mental strength-wise and just come back for pre-season flying
and ready to go.
'Obviously this season with Chelsea and the World Cup as well were big
motivations to really do everything, those little one per cents that maybe
I wouldn't have done, to push myself and make sure that when I come back I
was even better than before.
https://twitter.com/ChelseaFC/status/1546344140098527233
Gym work!
'I was fortunate. Four and a half months after surgery, I felt no pain. I
never really had any bumps in the road. In terms of an injury like that,
it was as plain-sailing as it could be. Every step I kept progressing and
I was fine. I was getting frustrated and I felt like I could have gone
quicker but that would have been stupid.'
Chilwell dreams of representing England at the winter World Cup, even more
so after failing to feature at all at last summer's Euros. Representing
his country matters to him and he even has a tattoo on his leg of his
England legacy number 1235, given to each Three Lions player in the order
they have represented the country.
However, the 25-year-old also knows that it will be his performances in a
Chelsea shirt that determine whether or not he lines up for Gareth
Southgate's side in Qatar.
'That's 100 per cent my aim, of course,' he said of his international
ambitions. 'I've dreamt of playing in a World Cup since I can remember and
to know it's just around the corner is more motivation than you can know,
to try and seal that spot down.
https://i.imgur.com/QQAsAj0.jpg
Chilwell and Havertz training in LA
'Not just for myself but for my family, especially after the Euros in what
was a difficult time for me. If I could go to the World Cup as the
number-one left-back, have a good tournament as a team and we do really
well and go all the way, that would be amazing.
'It would be the highlight not just of my career but for my life, so over
the next three or four months I'm just going to do everything that I can
to try and make sure that is my spot.'
Thomas Tuchel will have a big part to play in that and the mutual
admiration between the two is evident when Chilwell speaks of his club
boss.
'As players, we have full confidence in the manager,' he added. 'We know
we're not going to get a better manager here. I'm not just saying it.
'Now there is that stability. Everything that could have potentially been
tricky last season has been resolved so it is up to us to work and to try
to get that consistency on the pitch.'