Liverpool left-back Calum Scanlon is nearing a return from a back injury which paused his loan spell at Millwall, stepping up his recovery work in the gym.
Scanlon, 19, was only two games into his time at Millwall when he was sidelined with a stress fracture in his back which left manager Neil Harris “very disappointed.”
“It’s unfortunate. We’re very disappointed to lose him because he was something completely different to what we’ve got in the squad as a very attacking-minded full-back,” Harris said in September.
“He’s gone back to Liverpool to be treated in the short and mid-term.”
The teenager had come off the bench for his debut against Luton days prior, but was then sent back to the AXA Training Centre for treatment and scans.
Calum Scanlon back at Liverpool during his rehabilitation. Suggestion is going well for the left-back who is still technically on loan at Millwall. pic.twitter.com/01ijYkEBCD
— Lewis Bower (@LewisBower2021) November 19, 2024
Staff set a six-week period aside before a scan to determine Scanlon’s progress in recovery, which landed at the start of November.
And positively, the left-back has been able to resume work in the gym at the AXA, joining his fellow U21s for a session on Tuesday.
While Scanlon did not join the likes of Mohamed Salah, Harvey Elliott and Joe Gomez on the outdoor pitches later on, he was seen working comfortably through a series of exercises, watched by physios.
The likelihood is, then, that he will rejoin Millwall after stepping up his rehabilitation with the inclusion of ball work and contact training, which could come sooner rather than later.
Caution will be taken with the youngster, though, particularly as Liverpool have seen the damage such injuries can cause in recent years.
The likes of Conor Bradley, Calvin Ramsay and most recently Jayden Danns have all suffered stress fractures in their backs, with Danns only just returning to full training after over four months out.
Scanlon has been accompanied by fellow left-back Luke Chambers, 20, in the difficult period of rehab at the AXA, though the latter is not as far along in his recovery.
Chambers also aggravated a back injury last month while on loan at Wigan, with manager Shaun Maloney casting doubt over whether his deal would continue.
Injury could end Chambers loan
“He was our first-choice left-back, he was going to come in and hopefully play 40, 50 games,” Maloney told BBC Radio Manchester last month.
“And then he might have even skipped out of the Championship really, we’ve seen that before with Conor Bradley, Quansah as well who was with Bristol.
“The Liverpool boys, sometimes they miss out on the Championship and bang, they’re straight there in the Premier League. That was hopefully the plan for Luke.
“I think the injury he’s got is quite significant, it’s a reoccurrence of something he had a couple of years ago.
“So I think it’s possible we might not see us play for us again, just because of the length of time he’ll be out.”
