Fortune faces new injury concerns

[Scholesy18]

Manchester United's South Africa midfield man Quinton Fortune is to see a specialist amid growing fears about his long-term knee injury.


Fortune has not played since coming on as a substitute against Arsenal in the FA Cup final in Cardiff in May.

He had surgery after damaging a cartilage in training in July, but the problem shows no sign of improvement.

Sir Alex Ferguson told Manchester United radio: "It's not clearing up and it's a concern for us all."

Ferguson added: "We're going to get another opinion to decide whether he should go to someone he knows in Spain, or go America to see the knee specialist Dr. Richard Steadman.

"It started off with a simple operation on the cartilage.

"What happened was that he got a bit of calcification in the front of his knee and it got worse. He had a small operation to clear the calcification but it keeps coming back.

"All in all it has been a frustrating and serious injury and we just can't get to the bottom of it as to why this calcification keeps coming.

"We thought he'd be back in a month, but he is still injured and it's disappointing."

Fortune has suffered a frustrating run of injuries since he moved to Old Trafford from Atletico Madrid in 1999.

United have won three Premiership titles since then, but Fortune has only once made enough appearances to pick up a winners' medal.

Initially recruited as a winger, the Cape Town-born player has demonstrated sufficient versatility to operate at both left-back and in the middle of midfield, where he looked set for a protracted run in the team before breaking a leg in December 2002.
This season's injuries have been particularly frustrating for player and club as Fortune could have had a lengthy run at left-back following the serious knee injury suffered by Argentine Gabriel Heinze.

BBC

[Sparky]

I rate Fortune, think he is a hard worker and does well when playing. Shame he is injured though, can do with him being available. Not sure if it is true but he wants more playing time, bit hard now that he is injured but when fit if he still demands it, he could be off.

[Jay]

Fortune was outstanding in the centre of midfield last season, and he even put in some decent performances at left-back (Though I think he seems to neglect his defensive duties when he plays in that position) - I thought he was our best midfielder against Milan in the first leg, I think we lost the game when he was taken off. Up until then it was fairly even. If he was in the side right now it'd be a big boost, either in central midfield or at left-back, he works hard, tackles hard and is a good squad player if nothing more. Hopefully he can get himself back as it would be a big boost. He's certainly a far better cm option than smith/fletcher.

[RvN 10]

Its tragic, with the current state of our midfield. But even if he was back tomorow, we need to bring in 2 more midfielders

[Fishman9]

Was talking about him the other day, sad news. He is always an accomplished player when he comes in, and as Jay mentioned he was our best midfielder against Milan in the 1st leg. Thats even against their top midfield. He can play equally well at left back or left wing. I think, eventually, if he works on his defending, Richardson, could be a very similar player for us.

[Mancunian Red]

Its such a pity, he has improved every season at United and this could have been the season he became a regular.

[Tim18]

Fortune vastly underrated. Feel sorry for him.

[manutdgatorev]

Yea, its a shame he can't seize upon this opportunity, as I'd prefer him to what we have now in our CM and at the very least, Fortune was always a hard worker who rose to the occasion at times. Perfect example of a squad player in my book...him and Phil Neville were vastly underrated for their roles within our squad, and as much stick as the two sometimes got, I think it caught up with us this season, as the cupboard's pretty bare and we don't have any quality squad players anymore to step in when injuries hit.

[MSC]

i rate the lad he does so much work what doesnt get seen when he plays..i bet hes even more gutted now seeing the situation knowing that he may be getting quite afew games this season.