As pantomime season comes to an end, Henry Onyekuru’s situation is turning into a classic case of ‘Oh yes he is, oh no he isn’t’.
The Everton owned player was injured in December, and Belgian reports then said he’d need an operation on his knee, and be out for several months.
Then there were claims Everton’s doctors had conducted their own MRI scan and decided Onyekuru wouldn’t have to go under the knife.
Anderlecht weren’t impressed by that, and took the step of releasing an official statement. The Belgium club backed their doctors and the need for an operation.
A couple of days after that Onyekuru was quoted as saying: “Everton looked at the scan of my knee and believe that surgery isn’t necessary. The problem can be solved with a knee-relieving treatment and soon I will sign up for Everton.”
On Tuesday, Anderlecht Online quoted Nigeria coach Gernot Rohr confirming an operation: “Onyekuru will be under the knife in a few days and will be out for four to five months.”
But on Wednesday, Belgium’s DH quote Herman Van Holsbeeck, Anderlecht’s general manager, as saying: “Doctors don’t agree on the need for an operation. Medicine is not an exact science. One doctor says something and the other the opposite… It will be Everton anyway who will make the final decision. It’s normal, the club paid €8m to have Onyekuru.
Van Holsbeeck explained he isn’t planning for playing Onyekuru anytime soon but it could change on Everton’s word: “That’s how I have to manage him as a manager anyway, and now if Everton sends the player back and says he’s ready to play, I’ll tell the coach he can line him up. Everton says we have to wait for three weeks to see him come back in. We’ll see, Dr. Declercq said it would be better with the surgery, he told me that for Najar, but we still decided to attempt without operation. And what is happening today? Operation…”
