Swansea City's George Byers opens up on injury hell, his weeks-long talks with Steve Cooper and what's left him 'absolutely gutted' at Portsmouth
Source: Wales Online
Swansea City's George Byers has opened up on his injury nightmare of the last 12 months after he secured a loan move to League One side Portsmouth.
The midfielder has barely played over the course of the last year after ankle then groin injuries hampered his progression in SA1.
Now back to full fitness after a number of setbacks, the 24-year-old is hoping to make a fresh start on the south coast with former Swans boss Kenny Jackett at the helm.
The groin injury, which required surgery, and his subsequent rehabilitation took its toll on the Scottish star mentally. The setbacks, he said, were particularly hard to deal with.
Asked how tough the last year or so has been with injuries, Byers told our colleagues at HampshireLive: "Very hard.
"I have been injured before, I did my ankle and I was out for three months but it was nothing compared to that, it was different and this time was definitely tougher, mentally more than anything.
"Having so many setbacks throughout the course of my injury was the tough thing. I wanted to get to a good point and then obviously having setbacks which always puts a downer on things and makes you think. I am here now, I’m fit and I’m ready to kick on and really play this season.
"I had double groin surgery so it was not the easiest of injuries to come back from itself but a lot of rehab, and a lot of strengthening and getting back on the pitch. It got to a point where I was just taking it one step at a time and not looking too far ahead because of the setbacks I was having. With any injury, there is always a light at the end of the tunnel and I finally got there in the end."
In Byers' absence, Swansea have been going great guns. They started the campaign with a bang and currently sit second in the Championship standings. With the arrival of Conor Hourihane on loan from Aston Villa, Steve Cooper is stocked for options in the middle of the park and Byers admitted Swansea's good form played into his decision to head out on loan.
His lengthy talks with Cooper then made up his mind.
He said: "You have always got to get that kind of say from the manager to say whether you can go or not and coming back from injury my first ambitions were to get back into the Swansea team first and foremost, but with the team doing really well at the moment and up in second in the Championship, that was always going to be tough.
"As I spoke to him over the weeks gone by, we both agreed that getting out and getting games was the best thing for me and getting back to playing consistently."
The deal to take Byers to Fratton Park was announced on Saturday.
He spoke about the influence of team-mate Jamal Lowe over the move south, with Lowe giving him a glowing reference of a place he called home for two-and-a-half years.
"I did speak to him a little bit, told him about the move and stuff and he kind of lit up a bit and couldn’t say a bad word about the club," Byers said of Lowe's role in the move.
"He spoke really highly of it. He done really well here, moved to Wigan and done really well there and is doing well at Swansea now which is great for him.
"He’s a great lad, I get on really well with him and I couldn’t speak highly enough of the club, which helped me."
