Chelsea haven’t had to think about life without Sam Kerr much since she arrived in England. Their Australian superstar has been almost ever-present throughout the past four years, playing in all but 16 of the Blues’ 144 competitive fixtures in that time, scoring 99 goals and winning 10 trophies. But Sunday’s devastating injury news means the rest of the season has quite a different outlook.
Kerr won’t feature for her club again this campaign – and possibly even beyond, with her contract up in a few months’ time – after the announcement that she has ruptured her anterior cruciate ligament (ACL). It is catastrophic news for a player at the very top of her game, it’s an incredible blow to an Australia side hoping to win an Olympic medal later this year, and it is a serious setback for a Chelsea team competing on four fronts.
With Emma Hayes set to leave the club at the end of the season, to become the new head coach of the United States women’s national team, fans and neutrals alike were hopeful of a fairy-tale ending, that she could claim the Women’s Champions League trophy that has long eluded her and the club despite such an illustrious era.
But without the talismanic Kerr, the Blues’ main source of goals and perhaps their very best player, how do Chelsea go about making Hayes’ ‘Last Dance’ a success?