Socceroos defender Harry Souttar has undergone the surgery on his ruptured anterior cruciate ligament rupture which he hopes may yet save his World Cup dream.
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Souttar's English Championship club Stoke City tweeted on Wednesday a photo of the 23-year-old centre back smiling from his hospital bed, while offering a V for victory gesture.
The tweet was accompanied by the message: "Operation done. Thanks for the messages".
Souttar suffered the ACL injury in the World Cup qualifier against Saudi Arabia last month but, having flown back to Britain, has not been able to have the operation until the knee settled.
With a likely recovery period of seven to nine months for such an injury, the towering Souttar, who was enjoying an outstanding season until the injury struck, will miss the rest of the 2021-22 campaign.
He'll also almost certainly not be fit to play in any of the rest of the Socceroos' qualifying campaign, even if it stretches into June.
Yet if Graham Arnold's side make it to the finals in Qatar next November, though, Souttar may hopefully have been back in action long enough to win back his place in the squad.
Stoke manager Michael O'Neill told the Stoke Sentinel: "Harry will get the best care. David White is head of medicine here and has made sure that he is going to be extremely well looked after.
"It's always difficult as a young player when you're establishing yourself at the club. And obviously, Harry has done that in the past 18 months, he's been captain of the team as well."
Australian Associated Press
