CHLOE Logarzo has her fingers crossed that a doctor’s appointment on Wednesday will not spell the end of her W-League season with Newcastle before it begins.
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Logarzo was due to join the Jets for a second season after finishing with Swedish club Eskilstuna United last week. However, the tenacious midfielder or forward faces the possibility of missing the campaign because of an ankle injury picked up in Eskilstuna’s final domestic league game of the season against Linköping on November 6.
After initial scans in Sweden, Logarzo trained on for five days before results showed a potentially ruptured ankle ligament or damaged syndesmosis. Frustrated by “vague” assessments overseas, Logarzo is meeting with Matildas medical staff on Wednesday in Adelaide to decide her next step.
She said her time on the sidelines “could be a couple of weeks, or it could be a couple of months”.
“I’ve got an appointment at 12, and hopefully I can come home that day,” Logarzo said. “If not, I’ll have surgery the next day and come home a few days later.”
Given Newcastle are three weeks into their 14-round season, surgery will all but end Logarzo’s hopes of playing a second consecutive season with the Jets.
Logarzo came to Newcastle last season from Sydney FC to revive her Matildas career. She went on to break into the national side, help them qualify for the Olympics and was part of their run to the quarter-finals in Rio.
The 21-year-old had rejected bigger offers for this season to return to Newcastle, who are top of the table after three rounds, and was keen to help them improve on a sixth-place finish in 2015-16. Logarzo, though, seemed resigned to sitting out the 2016-17 season.
“They are doing well without me, which is great,” she said. “But I’m really upset about it, because I really wanted to have a solid W-League season with Newcastle after last year.
“The year I came off, I just really wanted to build my foundations in the team with a solid year. But I guess everything happens for a reason, so maybe I just need to have some time off. I’ll just take everything as a positive, and I’ve got other things to worry about with the Matildas coming up, so hopefully I can get back fit for that.”
If she needs surgery, Logarzo said she would “be pushing it to get back” for the Matildas’ campaign at the Algarve Cup in Portugal from March 1-8.
Of the injury, Logarzo said: “I don’t have any pain. I can run and I can do everything, but it just doesn’t feel right.”
The Jets, meanwhile, have yet to confirm a replacement for American goalkeeper Kelsey Wys, who went down with a season-ending knee injury in the 1-0 win over Perth on Sunday.
Coach Craig Deans has said bringing in Newcastle 15-year-old Annalee Grove was an option the club were exploring. Claire Coelho came off the bench for Wys on Sunday and will start in the away clash with Canberra on Saturday.
As for her time in Sweden, Logarzo said the injury was an upsetting way to end an otherwise positive experience.
Eskilstuna finished third at home and made it to the last 16 of the Champions League, where they lost to former Newcastle captain Emily van Egmond’s Wolfsburg side.
“It was really good, I really enjoyed Sweden and I think it’s a really good league,” Logarzo said.
“In developing as a player, I think it’s very similar to Sydney and my club especially were very professional – in how it was in training and in the gym.
“I lived in a small town and everyone supported us. We had like 2000 people at every game. It was amazing and a good experience for me.”
