Another international break brings another worrying injury situation for Everton.
As reported by Sport Witness (citing Ukrainian journalist Ihor Burbas), Vitaliy Mykolenko has returned to Finch Farm early after a mishandled leg injury during his time with the Ukrainian national team.
The sequence of events raises genuine questions about how the situation was managed by the national setup.
What Happened?
Mykolenko played the full 90 minutes in Ukraine’s 1-0 victory over Hungary on 25 September. However, he was subsequently left out of the 0-0 draw against Georgia, with manager Andrea Maldera initially noting that the left-back simply “wasn’t feeling right”.
According to Burbas, the issue escalated when Ukraine’s medical staff assessed Mykolenko’s leg pain, deemed it minor, and cleared him to train:
“I have questions for the national team’s medical staff,” Burbas stated. “From what I hear, the situation regarding Mykolenko does not look very professional. He had leg pain. But after an assessment, the medics said there was nothing serious and allowed him to train. He went out for the session, after which the pain intensified.
“The player was then released to return to his club. At the club, an examination revealed that he should not have been training in that condition at all. He needed to take a break.”
Following that session, Ukraine released a brief statement confirming Mykolenko would miss the remaining Nations League matches and sent him back to Finch Farm for the Everton medical team to develop their prognosis.
The Concern for Everton
While neither club nor country has released an official injury assssment or recovery timeline, allowing a player to train on an aggravated injury is frustratingly poor practice.
For David Moyes and Everton, the timing couldn’t be worse. Mykolenko remains the only senior left-back in the squad, having already started 7 matches this season. If this setback results in an extended spell on the sidelines, the Blues will once again be forced into a defensive reshuffle just as the Premier League action is finally set to resume after this inordinately long international break.
Given our thin squad depth, Evertonians have every right to be frustrated when international setups take unnecessary risks with player fitness.