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Very Specific Football Question No.40: Is Joe Ledley Europe's hardest man?

Fabian Delph, groin strain: out of the Euros. Marco Reus, “health problems”: out of the Euros. Dani Carvajal, thigh niggle: out of the Euros.

Joe Ledley, broken leg (BROKEN LEG): see you in France.

The Crystal Palace midfielder’s inclusion in the Wales squad for Euro 2016, a little over three weeks since he fractured his fibula in a Premier League match against Stoke on 7 May, seems to defy medical logic.

For example, the likes of Luke Shaw and Aaron Ramsey feared their careers could be ended by leg breaks in recent years, while other players have been forced to retire as a result of severe fibula injuries.

Several months on the sidelines would appear to be the norm, so the idea that Ledley can swan off to the European Championships and dive into tackles just a few weeks after sustaining the injury implies he possesses some kind of super leg.

But he doesn’t - he’s just a normal 29-year-old Welsh man with an average fitness record.

So how is it possible that he could play in Euro 2016?

It could be that Wales manager Chris Coleman has such limited strength in depth at his disposal that he would rather call upon a hobbling top-flight player than a fully fit lower-league one, such as Emyr Huws or Wes Burns - both omitted from the 23-man squad.

Or maybe Coleman is so confident his side will reach the latter stages of the tournament that he is picking Ledley just to appear in the final, where he anticipates Wales will beat Germany 5-0.

But in fact, the noises coming from the Welsh camp indicate they expect Ledley will be well enough to partake in the group stages.

And this begs the simple question, is Joe Ledley just really hard?

We know that Man City goalkeeper Bert Trautman played with a broken neck and former West Ham hardman Stuart Pearce once tried to “run off” a broken leg, while England loon Terry Butcher famously wrapped a bandage around a head that looked like it was about to fall off.

These are among a rare breed of men who laugh in the face of pain, and Ledley has joined the club.

When masses of bushy hair began to appear on Ledley’s face a few years ago, most people thought he was growing a beard simply because it had become cool and trendy among the youngsters.

But maybe Ledley shaves every morning. The beard probably grows back rapidly each time due to the ferocious levels of testosterone in his body. The man is a beast.

Injury geeks Physio Room recently scoffed at the idea that Ledley could return to fitness in time for the Euros. It states on its website that usual healing time for a fibula fracture is “12 to 16 weeks, followed by rehabilitation”.

Taking Ledley’s injury date of 7 May, that would have made it August at the earliest before he could have realistically hoped to start playing again.

Further investigation on the NHS Direct website says that broken legs can be treated with “wires, plates, screw or rods” and can take “between three and six months” to heal “or longer”.

But Ledley’s surprise return to training last week, just 18 days after his injury, suggested he had suffered a “minor fracture”. The NHS says these types of injuries can heal in “six to eight weeks”.

Taking the best-case scenario, that means Ledley could be recovered by 18 June - two days after the clash against England and two days before Wales face Russia in their final group game.

So rather than being a cyborg with a magic leg, it appears that what Ledley has achieved is just about within the limits of human capability. But not many people could do it.

Contenders for the title of Europe’s Hardest Man include Vitali Klitschko, Duncan Ferguson and Gerard Depardieu, but if Ledley takes the field against England or Russia then he could usurp them.

Follow @darlingkevin on Twitter

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