Reece James' surgeon - 'I am convinced he will be in top shape for the Euros'

Chelsea captain Reece James will come back much stronger from surgery on his injured hamstring and will be fit in plenty of time for the European Championships, according to the world-renowned doctor who operated on him this week.

Speaking exclusively to Telegraph Sport from his clinic in Turku, Finland, Lasse Lempainen insisted James will make a full recovery before the Euros and should no longer have the recurring problems on the hamstring in his right leg.

Lempainen, who operates on many of Europe’s top footballers and learned his trade from the man who fixed David Beckham’s Achilles, also revealed that he will now play a big part in James’s rehabilitation. It could include another trip to Finland for the 24-year-old.

“We did the operation on his right hamstring in Turku, Finland and it went very well,” said 45-year-old Lempainen. “We made some clinical examinations and thought about the different options, and after careful consideration, we all agreed to do the operation. We are convinced it was the right treatment decision and we are now all happy that we did the right thing. On Friday morning, we made an individual rehabilitation plan for Reece and now it’s time to make a good recovery.”

Lempainen says it is for Chelsea to confirm how long right-back James is likely to be out, but agrees with estimates of three to four months and is confident he will be fit in plenty of time for next summer’s Euros, which would be a boost for England manager Gareth Southgate.

“I am very convinced that Reece will be in top shape before the European Championships,” said Lempainen. “Chelsea will decide on how long he takes, but more likely we are talking about that kind of period [three to four months].”

James has been plagued by hamstring problems. Lempainen believes surgery will minimise the risk of recurring injuries in his right leg and has planned a rehab programme that he hopes will also strengthen the left side.

“Yes, absolutely, the surgery gives Reece a better chance of staying fit and not having a recurring problem,” said Lempainen. “We are only talking about the right side, of course, because he also had some problems in his left side before. Now, also during the rehab, particularly in the last phase when we do the sport-specific rehab, we will do our best that these risks should be minimised. The hamstring on the right will be stronger, yes.

“This is the first time I’ve worked with Reece. When I do operations for high-level athletes, one of the basic requests is that I want to be involved during the whole rehab process. It doesn’t matter if you do a good operation if the rehab is not done correctly and now I will be part of the whole rehab process and monitor that.

“We will try to do our best during the rehab process to assess the risk factors in Reece’s left hamstring and try to help his strength, mobility and sprinting technique, so Reece can enjoy high-level football again.”

On whether or not James is likely to return to Finland during his rehabilitation, Lempainen added: “Both ways are possible, Reece coming to Finland again and me travelling to London. But also, we regularly do return to play tests for high-level athletes.

“We also discussed with Chelsea’s medical director about the rehab process and the sport-specific phase that will be very important. When he is starting to train with the team again in future, that is a very important phase and we have spoken about Reece coming back to Finland when the time is right to do those tests.”

Lempainen specialises in tendon injuries in sport, having learned from renowned Finnish doctor Sakari Orava, who was once given a Champions League winners’ medal by Real Madrid in recognition of his work with the club.

“I started with high-level athletes about 12 years ago when I was about 33,” said Lempainen. “My supervisor was Dr Sakari Orava. He operated on Beckham’s Achilles, for example. I was working with him since my medical studies and I collaborated with him for almost 20 years. Now, I do over 100 hamstring operations a year. Achilles another 100.”

Lempainen, who performs operations in Milan and Madrid, but works mainly from Turku, added: “I do collaborations with many international football teams, for example today [Friday] I also operated on a player from AC Milan and the day before there was one from Inter Milan.

“I work with Barcelona, Atletico Madrid, Paris St-Germain, then also Inter Milan, AC Milan and Juventus. In the Premier League, Aston Villa and last year Nottingham Forest.

“I have worked with Barcelona for about eight years and AC Milan for about five years. I do knee and ankle operations, but most of my international athletes are looking for my help when they have muscle tendon injuries: hamstrings, Achilles and groin injuries. Tyler Adams was a patient of mine a couple of months ago.”