Simms may be out for a while after groin surgery

Good to know that the club were keeping close tabs on the lad. Hopefully, a new contract will be agreed, and he can kick on from last season. Our loanees had bad luck with injuries - thinking of Simms, Branthwaite and Tosun.

This is an unfortunate development and I can't find much by way of confirmation or prognosis, beyond what Critchley is reported to have said. Maybe Ellis has posted something on his Twitter account?

Groin injuries are notoriously hard to judge.

I hope the lad has summered well and can get back to full fitness in time to sort out what he needs for this season. If he is not playing by the Autumn, it could scupper his whole Everton future. It is very difficult to negotiate a contract from either side when a player can't show that he will be fit again.

I wish him well as he seems to be a good player with his head in the right place.

Martin,

If he's good enough, he will get a contract, injury or no injury, as the club would be negligent if they didn't give him a contract just because he has a groin injury. The question is, is he good enough and can he save us a fortune in transfer fees?

Awful timing. Everton and goals, the wait continues.

And so it begins. So many “promising” young players seem to get injured pre-season... maybe they need to change their diet.

He wasn’t injured pre-season, Colin. It was at the tail end of last season.

We really need a new go-to photo of Simms on here, LOL.

On the subject of groins, has anyone watched the latest first-team training video? Check out Big Dunc around 3 minutes!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6YcNzs-kyPo

Training with these lads really get's him going in the morning...

Bill #8 - was going to comment in a similar vein... He looks like a surly sixth former being given a telling-off by the deputy head!

Colin,

I share your concern about promising youngsters getting injured, although in this case, it wasn't strictly "pre-season" as he did it in training before the League One playoff final — practising penalties of all things!

I can imagine he was doing exactly what I advocated them other three shoulda done instead of those pussy-arse attempts — put yer bloody boot through ball into the top corner — and he pulls his groin!

Do many injuries come from players trying too hard? Especially younger ones in development, busting a gut (literally!!!) to impress less athletic onlookers, such as our much-maligned Academy management entourage? It's a theory in need of some empirical evidence…

Hopefully nothing too serious.

Personally, and I appreciate every individual and their body is different, but groin strains and groin injuries were the easiest and quickest to recover from in my experience. That said, I obviously don't know the gravity of what the issue is, so I can't dismiss it as a simple strain.

And depending on his style of play, that area of the body might be important. A bit like the hamstring for rapid, quick acceleration players. For those types, once that goes, it becomes difficult to get back to peak. Think Michael Owen.

Ligament damage was always the most difficult to get back from for me. More so than the two broken legs I received at different times over the years.

With ligaments, you think you're getting back, you can run and you feel fit. But once you get on the pitch and in a game play scenario and start twisting and turning too soon, you realise there is still a way to go!

A quad tear was an interesting one too. That didn't seem serious, but it took a while to fully recover from.

Nowadays, the joints just keep reminding me what I put them through over the years.

The lad is young. He'll be fine.