Aston Villa: Reading loanee Tommy Elphick undergoes knee surgery

Aston Villa center back Tommy Elphick avoids extensive ligament damage after a knee injury sustained against Millwall Football Club.

After frightening news that Tommy Elphick was stretchered off over the weekend with a suspected knee injury, Reading and Villa supporters feared the worst. However, it seems as though the defender, making his second appearance with the Royals and first start, avoided extensive injury, with his ACL still intact.

Elphick underwent a “minor operation” to his knee, Tweeting it was successful and in recovery:

The same report indicates Elphick will return to Villa for the first part of recovery before linking-up with Reading once more. Six weeks of recovery puts the defender in a tight situation. He should return to training by late March/early April, only giving him a small handful of weeks to rebuild fitness before the season’s close.

Elphick is in his second season with the claret and blue of Aston Villa, after signing a three-year deal in the summer of 2016. Notably, he was Dr. Tony Xia’s first signing as owner. Moreover, he was made captain by then-manager Robert Di Matteo before an injury kept him on the sidelines for some time. When he returned, Steve Bruce was manager and playing opportunities remained hard to come by.

Elphick’s loan with Reading was supposed to be the opportunity to rebuild his value in the transfer market (despite impressing in his small handful of appearances). Villa tried, unsuccessfully, to sell the player in two consecutive windows, but nothing more than a loan deal materialized. At Villa, Elphick was sitting behind James Chester, John Terry, Axel Tuanzebe, and Chris Samba in the center-half depth chart.

Here’s to a quick recovery, Tommy!