James Garner's Race to Recover for Everton's Premier League Kick-off
Everton’s pre-season plans have taken an early hit, with James Garner undergoing surgery on a groin problem that threatens to rule him out of the opening day.
The 23-year-old, one of the standout performers in last season’s survival fight, went under the knife after an issue was picked up in the first days of pre-season. What began as a precaution quickly became something more serious. Garner missed the opening friendly against Dundee, the club initially insisting the problem would be assessed over the following days. Those checks pointed in one direction: surgery.
Everton say the operation was successful.
The midfielder has already started his rehabilitation at Finch Farm and is working towards a return to first-team training around the opening week of the Premier League season, dependent on how his recovery progresses. The timeline is tight. Sean Dyche will know he may have to start the campaign without one of his most reliable midfielders.
Garner’s absence lands at a delicate moment for the squad. Idrissa Gueye has already left after his contract expired this summer, stripping more experience and defensive nous from the middle of the pitch. The club are understood to be in the market for another midfielder, and Garner’s setback only sharpens that need.
The groin issue kept him out again at the weekend, this time from the friendly at Bolton Wanderers, where he was one of several notable omissions. Tyler Dibling sat out with what Everton described as a “minor knock”, while Hayden Hackney, one of three summer signings, was left to continue his bedding-in process after arriving from Middlesbrough.
The club expect both Dibling and Hackney to be involved in Tuesday’s friendly at Stoke City. Garner will not be there. His work, for now, is confined to the indoor gyms and treatment rooms at Finch Farm, counting down the days and sessions until he can step back into a midfield that suddenly looks lighter than Dyche would like on the eve of another demanding season.
