The Scotland starlet sidelined by three surgeries after freak injury and his desire to return to SPFL

Injuries are the unfortunate trending word when it comes to Scotland players right now. Aaron Hickey, Nathan Patterson, Lewis Ferguson and now Lyndon Dykes have hogged the headlines for all wrong reasons. Yet none of them are likely to go through the hell that young Connor McAvoy has experienced.

The 22-year-old centre-half is back in the Scotland Under-21 set-up, 19 months on from his last involvement when he played in a 2-1 defeat by Iceland at Fir Park in November 2022.

Highly-regarded at Fulham, a serious knee injury sustained while on loan at Partick Thistle in March last year has robbed him of more than a year of first-team football.

Connor McAvoy trains ahead of Scotland Under-21's double-header next week.

He has required three operations to get back to full fitness and had to endure the physical and mental agony of screws coming loose in his joint that were inserted to repair a medial knee ligament injury.

McAvoy suffered the injury at Cappielow in a match against Greenock Morton when an opposition player landed on top of him. He was stretchered off and has not played a senior match since. He desperately hopes to be involved for the 21s next week when they play two friendlies, away to Turkey on Monday and then Austria on Friday.

Speaking for the first time about the injury, McAvoy recalled: “I was on loan at Partick Thistle and I ruptured my MCL in my knee. Someone just fell on me and my foot was on the ground and my knee collapsed inwards.

“It was just a real accident and nothing could be done. I had to have surgery to repair that, but the surgery didn't go to plan. During rehab the screws they used to repair it came loose in my knee, so I had to get another surgery to repair that. It caused more damage to my knee so it put me back eight or nine months.

McAvoy's last appearance for the under-21s came against Iceland.

“I had complications, I had to start again from square one. It was actually worse the second time. I had to work all through the summer, Christmas time, got back on the grass, running, played a game or two and then just had pain in my knee.

“I had to get a third operation to clear some stuff up. I'd say from mid-March I've had no issues at all. It was the first time I've felt pretty good about it.”

The nature of the injury and what happened afterwards, with the screws coming loose in his knee, was freakish, but also left McAvoy’s career up in the air. “It was no one's fault and they told me there was less than a one per cent chance of it happening but it happened,” he continued. “It took me a while to get my head round that.

“I had a few chats with the physios and, although retirement wasn't on the cards, it was a possibility because of how serious it was. But I never had a thought about that. I took it week by week and made progress and the strength was getting better. So it never really crossed my mind because I knew if I worked hard enough I would be fine.”

McAvoy challenges Kemar Roofe during a match against Rangers while on loan at Partick Thistle.

McAvoy speaks with admirable maturity on such a devastating subject. Fulham think highly of a player who has been in their ranks since he was eight years old. Born in Staines, McAvoy qualifies for Scotland through his father, Gordon, a passionate Scot who was born in Paisley – “I don't really have a choice when it comes to Scotland, I am never going to disappoint him, am I," smiled his son.

There is a mental toughness to McAvoy since the injury, and you can see he has worked so hard on his rehab. He looks ready for action and knows he has the strength to cope with whatever comes next in his career.

“You ask anyone that has had injuries, it's not just bad that comes with it, you get mentally stronger,” McAvoy mused. “For me personally, where I was at in my career, I needed something like going on loans to push myself and get that mental side of the game.

“Technically at Fulham, it's quite a good academy. I'm not going to face anything harder than that, I don't think. I feel like it's set me up for the rest of my career to manage failures and disappointments quite well. Touch wood nothing comes of that calibre again!”

McAvoy has one more year left on his contract at Craven Cottage and knows the path to the first team is littered with obstacles. Despite suffering such trauma in the SPFL, he is very open to a loan move north for next season.

“I have not spoken to Fulham about my plan but in my mind, I want to go on loan again,” he stated. “I need men's football to get game-time – I don't really mind at what level. I want to play consistently to get that run of games. That's important.

“If I was going to go somewhere on loan I would be happy to come back here because I was enjoying it before what happened. I really enjoyed it at Thistle. I just want to go somewhere that I can play.”

Before his injury, McAvoy was on the fringes of the Fulham set-up. The London club have established themselves as a Premier League club and the youngster is enjoying being a part of it. “I was training with the first team and doing well,” he continued. “I went to Thistle and was in a good place and happy with my progress. So that was why the injury was so frustrating. Last season was probably my best season in terms of my development. The picture in my head I had of my career was starting to come together so that's what made it ten times harder because I could see myself following the pathway I had for myself.”

If any player deserves a break, it’s McAvoy. Don’t be surprised to see him at a club up here by the end of the summer transfer window.