Matildas coach Tom Sermanni has revealed that Sam Kerr will return from her devastating knee injury in just over a month in another round of heartwarming news for the forward after she revealed she and her fiancée are expecting a baby.
Last Saturday, the national team manager said he had not reported the Chelsea star’s anterior cruciate ligament injury, which he suffered during the England team’s training camp in Morocco in January.
Kerr revealed that he’s been dealing with “a little more than just an ACL” in a statement in September, and Sermanni responded “absolutely not” when asked if he knew what he was referring to.
But he took a very different stance when asked about the Matildas captain’s return to the field on Wednesday.
“During his rehab there were a couple of little setbacks, probably two or three months ago,” he said. SEN.
“Now he has overcome them and is recovering well and is on the right track.
Sam Kerr (pictured with fiancee Kristie Mewis at a Chelsea match) has been out of action with a serious knee injury since earlier this year.
Now the Matildas coach has revealed the superstar striker should be fit and raring to go in January, a welcome boost for the 31-year-old (pictured playing for Australia).
But she just wanted to make sure she didn’t run back too.
“Everything at the moment is going well and she should be back and ready to go in January.”
Chelsea manager Sonia Bompastor also gave an update on Kerr’s condition on Wednesday, but was not as accurate in her prediction as the Tillies boss.
“She’s on the field. She hasn’t practiced with the team yet, but surely by the end of the year she’ll be able to practice with the team,” Bompastor said.
‘It’s hard for me to give you a good timeline and the right date, but she’s in a good place. She is confident.
‘When I look at her and her rehabilitation process, she is doing very well and progressing day by day. I think it’s really good, but it’s too early to say a date.
Assuming Sermanni is right about Kerr, a return to the field in January would mean he will miss four Matildas friendlies: two against Brazil on November 28 and December 1, plus another double against Chinese Taipei on December 4 and 7.
Chelsea will play their first game of 2025 on January 19 against West Ham, followed by Arsenal on the 26th.
Matildas boss Tom Sermanni (pictured) also revealed Kerr was afraid of trying to return to action too soon.
The update on Kerr’s condition comes just after she and her partner Kristie Mewis announced they are expecting a baby next year.
The couple took to Instagram to confirm the news, posting a series of touching photos of themselves in a photo booth while holding a picture of Mewis’ scans.
The football duo were all smiles and shared a kiss as they celebrated the exciting news with their Instagram followers.
However, Kerr and Mewis were forced to disable comments on their post due to embarrassing homophobic comments.
Many fans took to the social media platform to congratulate the duo, with Kerr’s Australian teammate Mary Fowler writing “Congratulations” with a “heart eye” emoji.
However, some trolls took the happy news as an opportunity to post embarrassing and hurtful versions of the stars’ announcement.
One Instagram user wrote: “Ridiculous” in the comments, while another added: “Bro what is my striker doing?”
Earlier this week, Kerr and Mewis (pictured) were forced to deal with an embarrassing homophobic backlash when they announced they were expecting a baby next year.
‘Nonsense,’ another social media user commented, while many others wrote: ‘How?’
Another added: “I really don’t know what to comment because of the love and respect I have for you, but come on, you ladies should stop fooling yourselves.”
Kerr and Mewis later disabled comments on their social media post.
One X user criticized some of the responses to the couple’s news, claiming that Kerr’s English Women’s Super League team Chelsea had deleted a social media post celebrating the couple’s news.
“Chelsea deleted the post about Sam and Kristie on this app and disabled comments on Instagram,” the X user wrote.
‘How come in 2024 we will continue to see the same discrimination?
‘If you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all. It’s simple.’