Liverpool's Luis Suarez is likely to play against England in the World Cup, according to one of the UK's leading orthopaedic consultants.
Uruguay's star player underwent minor knee surgery this week, just over three weeks before his country's first game in the tournament in Brazil against Costa Rica.
There were fears he could miss the World Cup entirely but these were dismissed by Uruguay officials and they have even expressed hope that he could be training again in just over a fortnight.
Simon Moyes, a specialist in arthroscopic surgery and sports injuries working out of Wellington and London Bridge hospitals, certainly expects Suarez to be in action by the time Uruguay face England in Sao Paulo on June 18.
Moyes said: "I think we can expect him to be playing for that, but whether he will be 100 per cent, I'm not too sure.
"With a following wind he will be playing in the World Cup but he may not be quite up to normal calibre.
"The external or lateral meniscus, as we call them, does take longer than the medial meniscus.
"They normally take six weeks but these professional footballers are slightly different creatures to other people.
"They are phenomenal athletes. They can carry injuries very well. It is not massive surgery in this day and age and they also have access to start-of-the-art rehabilition.
"In about 10 days' time he'll be doing some light training - things like swimming, cycling, cross-training.
"He probably won't be able to start running around and kicking footballs for about three weeks, so he won't have much training in the build-up to the World Cup, but these guys are so fit he probably won't need it."
Source: PA
