Injury delays Lockyer return from cardiac arrest

Lockyer was Luton Town captain during their stay in the Premier League before collapsing in the game against Bournemouth on 16 December 2024.

Tom Lockyer has undergone surgery after damaging ankle ligaments just one week before he was due to return to action for the first time since suffering a cardiac arrest.

The Wales defender, 30, collapsed while playing in Luton Town's Premier League fixture with Bournemouth a year ago.

Lockyer later revealed he was "technically dead" for nearly three minutes, but had not ruled out playing again.

He returned to training with Luton - now in the Championship - and was due to feature for the club's development side before rolling his ankle in training.

"He was doing really well, he was ticking all the boxes and got to around the fourth stage of his rehab, he was into full training with us and the next step would have been minutes with the under-21s," said Luton boss Rob Edwards.

"It was the week before that he was due to get that. He cleared the ball and just landed awkwardly, so it's incredibly frustrating – obviously for all of us, but for him as well because he'd worked so hard."

Lockyer, who has had an implantable cardioverter-defibrillator (ICD) fitted, had previously stated he would be "at peace" with the prospect of not playing again following his collapse.

But he had always stressed a desire to return to the pitch, including a wish for "just one more" Wales appearance to add to his 16 caps, having spent time with Craig Bellamy's squad in September.

And, under the guidance of the same specialists who oversaw Denmark's Christian Eriksen's comeback after his own cardiac arrest, Edwards said Lockyer had been closing in on the all-clear for a full return.

"It is [remarkable], and that's down to him as a person, the fact that everything has gone very, very well," said Edwards, a former Wales international himself.

"He's in really good condition and every specialist and all the medical people looking at him have been really pleased with every step of the process.

"No cutting corners with this because obviously it's so important, but I don't think there is any reason why he won't play."

Lockyer was part of the Luton team that won promotion to the Premier League under Edwards. He collapsed in the play-off final win over Coventry and underwent heart surgery.

Without offering a definitive recovery timescale, Edwards added Lockyer's hopes of a return will have been put back "a few months" and he will still have to complete the "end stage" of his recovery.

"There is always a risk when you've been out for quite a long period of time that other injuries can occur," said the Hatters boss.

"This is obviously a bit of a freak one and it actually almost upset him more than what happened a year ago, because he'd worked so hard and fought so hard to get so close, but he'll get there.

"It'll be a period of time now and we don't want to put him under loads more stress and pressure. We won't need to, he'll be doing that anyway and pushing as hard as possible."