Tom Lockyer will play football again, but has suffered a setback as he was about to return, with an injury that has required surgery.
The Luton club captain suffered a cardiac arrest on the pitch against Bournemouth a year ago and has previously described how he was technically dead for two minutes and 40 seconds as medics battled to save his life on the pitch.
At the stage, it was not known whether the Welsh international would ever play football. Indeed, it was one of the furthest things from most minds, as he began his recovery.
Lockyer did return to the training ground in August, but, at that stage, it was without the pressure of playing again.
But his rebab went well enough to the point that his cardiac tests had all come back positive and he was about to get a run out with the under-21s.
But the centre half rolled his ankle in training, damaging the ligaments, meaning he’s had to have surgery and will be out for a period of months now.
Manager Rob Edwards said: “Actually, it almost upset him more than what happened a year ago, this one, because he fought so hard and worked so hard to get close. But, he’ll get there.”
But it’s not if Lockyer will play again, it’s a question of when and Town today signed Erik Pieters on a one-month deal, with the Dutchman taking the vacant squad spot that had been left open for the skipper.
Edwards said of Lockyer: “He was doing really well. He was ticking all the boxes, got to around the fourth stage of his rehab. He was into full training with us in the next step would have been minutes with the under-21s.
“It was the week before that he was due to get that. He cleared the ball and landed just awkwardly. So, yeah, incredibly frustrating, obviously for all of us, but for him as well, because he worked so hard.
“I’ve got to stress that cardiac and all of that side of it is absolutely fine. This is just an ankle now.
“So, we support him and we try and get him through this stage of the rehab and then there’s going to be boxes for him to tick again, that end stage stuff that we’ve got to make sure that we do.
“So, that could just make the return a little bit longer than what would normally be the case for this.”
The first anniversary of his cardiac arrest happened three days ago on December , so it’s a remarkable feat that Lockyer is even in contention to play football again, as he also suffered an atrial fibrillation on the pitch during the Hatters’ Championship play-off final victory in May 2023.
“It’s due to him as a person,” said Edwards, adding: “The fact that everything has gone very, very well. He’s in really good condition and every specialist and everyone that’s looking at him, all the medical guys have been really, really pleased with every step of the process.
“I think we’ve done it really well. And even with Locks, in the end, he’s pushing even further and faster and wants to be going even quicker. But we’ve made sure that we’ve done everything to the best of our ability and with as much detail as we can. No cutting corners with this because obviously it’s so important.
“We get him we get him through this now, in terms of the ankle, and I don’t think there’s any reason why he you know he won’t play.”
In December, after a period of time in hospital, Lockyer was fitted with an ICD (Implantable Cardioverter Defibrillator), the same type that allowed Danish midfielder Christian Eriksen to return to playing despite suffering a heart attack during a Euro 2020 game against Finland.
The Welshman has been seen by the best heart specialists in Amsterdam and London, including the Professor Sanjay Shah, the cardiologist that treated Eriksen.
“With this, you have to see the best. And he has,” said Edwards of his captain.
“As I say, everything has gone by the book apart from getting towards the end of this now and doing his ankle.
“There’s always a risk of that when you’ve been out for quite a long period of time. Other injuries can occur. This is obviously a bit of a freak one.”
Lockyer is now on crutches and has a protective boot around his ankle.
Edwards said: “They’re always serious. It’ll be a few months, so, we’ll see and then obviously he’s got the end stage stuff to make sure he does as well, because he didn’t get to tick off the final stages as well. So we’ve still got that to do.
“It’ll be a period of time. I don’t want to put him under loads more stress and more pressure, but we won’t need to, he’ll be doing that anyway, he’ll be pushing as hard as possible.”
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