AGONY AND THE ABYSS; BRIGHTON STAR BREAKS FANS HEART WITH SURGERY DETAILS A RACE AGAINST TIME AHEAD OF NOTTINGHAM FOREST
In pain’ – Brighton star reveals surgery details and gives timescale for return ahead of Nottingham Forest
Brighton star received a surprise call from former boss Roberto De Zerbi
Brighton goalkeeper Jason Steele received an hour-long FaceTime from former boss Roberto De Zerbi after his shoulder surgery.
Steele, 33, underwent an operation in January and is currently unavailable for Fabian Hurzeler’s team.
The former Sunderland man enjoyed an excellent relationship with De Zerbi during their time together at Brighton and last season shared the goalkeeping duties with Bart Verbruggen.
“I came out from surgery seven weeks ago, explained Steele. “His team were playing a day later, Marseille, and he FaceTimed me for an hour on the Friday night.
That speaks volumes about him as a person, as a human being.
The day I came out of surgery, that evening I go back home in pain, etc and he FaceTimed me. My wife was sat next to me looking after me on the couch, and she’s like ‘I can’t believe that’s just happened, is that normal? I actually don’t think that is normal.”
Brighton are seventh in the Premier League and through to the quarter-finals of the FA Cup, where they will face Nottingham Forest at the Amex Stadium on March 29.
Steele hopes to be back in action next month and believes he could be fit for the FA Cup semi-finals, if Brighton advance past Forest – a team that beat them 7-0 in the league last month.
“The next game is a quarter-final of the FA Cup against Nottingham Forest,” He said to TalkSPORT. “How well can we prepare Monday to Friday to make sure we have the best chance to win that game and go to Wembley?
When you see Newcastle rewrite their history a little bit, 70 years without winning a domestic trophy, it gives us a little bit of hope.”
Steele has been a key member of the squad for Hurzeler this season and January’s injury was a huge blow for the German.
“It was one of the worst messages I received so far for the next month,” said Hurzeler of Steele’s injury last month.
“He is a leader, he has a strong voice and you cannot underestimate what he brings to the environment.”
