Chelsea striker Sam Kerr sustained an ACL injury while at a warm-weather training camp in Morocco.
The Australian international will be evaluated by a specialist in the following days, after which Chelsea’s medical staff will start her rehabilitation, the club has said.
After joining the Blues in 2019, the Australia international has been a key player in four WSL title victories, three FA Cup wins, and two League Cup wins.
An official statement from Chelsea said: “Everyone at Chelsea would like to wish Sam the very best for her recovery.”
Chelsea women’s team is leading the WSL standings with three points over Manchester City in second place.
Although the severity of the injury is unknown, it is expected to keep the 30-year-old out for the remainder of the domestic club season—manager Emma Hayes’s final season with the English champions—as well as maybe the Paris Olympics.
After her injury, Kerr becomes the most well-known female football player after a string of high-profile victims of ACL injuries in recent years, including Beth Mead, Vivianne Miedema, Leah Williamson, and Alexia Putellas, a former Ballon d’Or winner from Spain and Barcelona.
At the end of the current campaign, Hayes will depart Chelsea to take a position as head coach of the US women’s national team. Kerr’s contract expires at the end of this season and she could have played her final game with the Blues.
The Hayes-Kerr duo took Chelsea Women’s team to their greatest heights and won numerous trophies in the process but it’s ending like nobody wanted and in such a harsh way.