Man of steel Dunne ready for action
That was the good news from the man himself yesterday, as the defender spoke at length in Dublin about hisrecovery from the broken collarbone sustained while playing for Villa against Manchester City back in February. As a result of surgery, Ireland’s man of steel now actually has some in his shoulder, a plate which will either remain there permanently or be removed when he has retired from the game.
“I was told straight away when it happened what it was and what would happen,” he said, recalling the immediate aftermath of the heavy fall he suffered when challenging Joe Hart for an aerial ball nearly three months ago. “I went into the dressing room and there was actually a surgeon at the game who came down and had a quick look. He said I’d have to get anoperation. He explained that in six weeks I could do this, and in nine weeks time I could do that, and in 12 weeks time I could play. And it’s been perfect. When I saw him last week he said, ‘that’s it, go ahead’.
“It’s 11 weeks on Sunday, next week would be 12. After the surgery, I had six weeks where I couldn’t do anything. I had to just rest and go on holiday. Since then I have been back, building up and doing a pre-season without any football. This week I’ve joined training with the youth team and reserves a couple of times but had no contact training. I’ll start full contact on Friday and take it from there.”
While Dunne feels fine physically, he concedes ‘full contact’ is needed to remove any psychological wounds.
“I’ve got this big padding to go over the shoulder,” he explained. “They said I should wear it while playing but I don’t have to, if it doesn’t feel comfortable. It’s psychological — just that extra bit of protection. The bone is alright if I knock on it but you almost need someone to run up behind me and smack me on it. I know it’s going to be sore, but it’s not going to break because I’ve got the plating in it. It’s just getting that initial knock. You don’t want to do it — you’re probably better off running into a wall and seeing if you’re alright at the end of it. But I’m sure it’ll be fine.
“In fact, I thought I was ready four weeks ago. But they just kept telling me to wait and wait and wait. As I was getting the x-rays, the bone was getting closer and closer to knittingtogether again and it was frustrating because it felt fine. They say now it’s perfectly healed and as strong as ever.”
As well as paying tribute to Villa’s Scottish doctor Ian McGuinness, Dunne acknowledged that the whole club, despite its own struggles in the Premier League this season, has gone out of its way to help get him ready for the European Championships.
And while the assumption is the centre-half will be back for one or two of their final three league games, Villa have a Plan B in place should the player miss out on those fixtures.
“I’d like to play them and I feel ready to go straight in,” he said. “But it’s difficult because I’ve been out for so long and it’s a question of whether I’m going to be fit or not to play. But the club have said they are going to arrange some games at the training ground if I don’t get to play first-team games. They’ve been brilliant.”
Meanwhile another Villa is anxiously looking towards Euro 2012 also — Barcelona striker David. According to Spanish daily As, Spain coach Vicente del Bosque will travel to Barcelona next week to meet the striker and discuss his availability for the championships. Last week Villa said he expected to make his return from injury before the end of the La Liga season.
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