Brendan Rodgers has defended the club’s decision to field Wilfred Ndidi just 13 days after the player underwent knee surgery.
In the previous month, Ndidi, a key player with the highest tackle rate in the Premier League, underwent a knee operation. He was back in action almost two weeks later, with Rodgers describing his recovery as “incredible”.
After just two appearances against West Ham and Aston Villa, Ndidi’s knee inflamed, leading to him being ruled out for the upcoming clash with Manchester City, making it the third consecutive match he has missed due to the injury.
Football pundits and experts have criticized Rodgers’ swift decision to bring back Ndidi, but the former Liverpool boss was quick to defend his actions.
“Medically, he passed the tests and measures to show he was okay,” said Rodgers.
“He had played a game and a half. He came on after half an hour against West Ham and came through that. Then he played in the other game in the Carabao Cup second leg v Villa.
“From a manager’s perspective, you’re guided by medics and himself. He just didn’t quite get the right feeling going into the Chelsea game.”
”We can’t put any pressure on him to force him through,” added Rodgers. “I know that he’s the type of player who wants to play in every game.
“We just have to take our time with him and make sure he’s right for the next time he comes back.
“It’s a case of, he had a bone that’s been there in his knee, in that meniscus, and that gets taken out. Initially, he responded well to that, training and playing. But since then there’s been a slight reaction to the knee not having that in there. That’s just around the individual player.
“We don’t want to force it. He’s doing various exercises, jumping up and down and moving and all of that. We could easily just fire him in, but we have to make sure he’s right, and for that I’ll be guided by our medical team, who are very good.”