‘Keeper Pearson played 90 minutes as Newcastle United Under-23s won 4-0 at Burnley in the Premier League Cup last week – his first appearance of any sort since March 2016.
He ended the 2015/16 campaign on loan at Gateshead, but by that point, a case of patella tendonitis had already started to take hold, and the youngster was forced to sit out the entirety of the following season.
Pearson had looked set to get back on the pitch last month, but a raft of postponements for United’s second string brought about a further delay.
But, finally, he was handed a starting berth as the Magpies took on the Clarets at Edgeley Park on Thursday, and yesterday, he sat down with nufc.co.uk to reflect on his long road back to fitness.
“I first started feeling the injury in pre-season 2015. It’s called patella tendonitis – you get a little niggle in the front of your kneecap on your patella tendon. I was having a few pains, but I was managing it quite well in the first half of the season and I ended up going on loan to Gateshead,” he recalled. “They trained on the 3G surface quite a lot, and that – alongside the fact I probably wasn’t doing my pre-hab as well as I should have – meant the pain was slowly starting to build up. It got worse and worse and by the time it got to April, I couldn’t play properly or perform to the best of my ability.
“I went to see the Doc, and he said the best treatment would be to have some injections. I had dextrose injections in both knees, and some sort of stripping technique was done as well. I broke up at the end of the season and I thought I was going to start pre-season absolutely fine. I came back in on the first day, and it was no good. I had some more injections, called Epi, which is like an electronic acupuncture sort of thing. I had three sets of those done in my left knee, but that didn’t work, and eventually I had to have an operation – that was in October 2016. It was meant to take five or six months for me to get back after that, but it ended up taking me 12.
“It’s been a long, long process. It was a case of working hard in the gym for a year, slowly building up from training once or twice a week, to every other day, to the point where I can train every single day again. It’s obviously been hard, but I’ve just tried to take it day by day. I could have been in a far worse situation – there are people who are told they are never going to play again. I’ve always had the mindset that I’m going to get back fit, I’ve known what I’ve needed to do to do that, and I’ve just tried to keep my head down and not think of anything else. Even though it took a little bit longer than expected, I eventually got there.”
Dan Barlaser and Luke Charman netted two goals apiece to see off Burnley, the young Magpies’ fifth win in their last six outings.
“We looked really sharp – everything came together pretty well,” Pearson said. “It was a surreal experience, in a sense. Two years ago, I never thought it was going to take two years for me to get back on the pitch. Originally, I only thought it was going to be a three- or four-month job. Things didn’t work out the way I wanted, but finally – eventually – I got back playing, and it was surreal. It was something I had looked forward to for a long time. Once I got back on the pitch, it was like I hadn’t been away at all. I pretty much felt back to normal – just focused on the game, and at the end of the game, I was happy with my performance. It just felt great to be back.”
United return to action against PSV Eindhoven in the Premier League International Cup on Wednesday evening, for which Pearson is hopeful he can retain his place in the side.
“I was lucky enough to get the chance last week, and for my first game I felt I did really well,” he said. “If I get the chance on Wednesday, against PSV, then hopefully I can do the same again.
“We’ve had a lot of games cancelled, and all of those are going to be re-arranged, so that could be a good chance for me to get more games in when I’ve had a bit of extra time to train.”
