Chelsea defender Bright ‘out for weeks’ manager Hayes confirms | OneFootball

Chelsea manager Emma Hayes has confirmed that defender Millie Bright will be out of action for a number of weeks.

The centre-back limped out of Chelsea’s 1-0 UEFA Women’s Champions League quarter-final, first leg victory over Lyon in France last month and she has been sidelined ever since.

Chelsea manager Hayes this afternoon provided an update on Bright’s fitness, delivering the bad news that the player will be out for a number of weeks. At this stage, it is not known how Bright’s injury might impact her availability for the FIFA Women’s World Cup Australia and New Zealand 2023.

“There’s no Millie Bright, she has had a clean-out in her knee,” Hayes said when speaking ahead of tomorrow’s UEFA Women’s Champions League semi-final, first leg tie against FC Barcelona at Stamford Bridge. “She had a boney cartilage lesion that needed cleaning out, so Millie will be out for weeks but I can’t say how many.”

The injury update on Bright came just hours after England captain Leah Williamson was ruled out of the FIFA Women’s World Cup Australia and New Zealand 2023 after rupturing her Anterior Cruciate Ligament (ACL). Hayes went on to say that Williamson’s injury is a blow for club and country.

She said “It’s devastating for the Lionesses and Arsenal to lose such a pivotal player, someone who has had profound impact for club and country. It is disappointing to see such a huge injury again.

“It’ll take me too long to go through everything I think about ACLs but I think that we need to stay away from lazy comments about the causes of these injuries; it is multi-faceted, there are a lot of reasons why these injuries happen.”

Chelsea and England will be hoping to see Bright back to full fitness sooner rather than later. Just five weeks of the club season remain while England head coach Sarina Wiegman is expected to name her squad for the FIFA Women’s World Cup Australia and New Zealand 2023 towards the end of next month.