Bodde Confident Of A Full Recovery

Ferrie Bodde feared that his career was all over last month after suffering a recurrence of his knee injury, but he's been given a confidence boost by his surgeon.

The highly rated Dutch midfielder has been sidelined and troubled with knee ligament injuries ever since November 2008 when he picked up the problem in a home game against Birmingham City. Since then he has failed twice in making a full return to first team action.

September 2009 was when he first made a comeback, but he was back on the treatment table after picking up another injury. Following a long and tough rehabilitation process in his home country, he made another return against Peterborough United in February but disaster struck again. Fans and Bodde himself feared he wouldn't kick a ball again, but his confidence has vastly grown and he's now looking ahead to finally experiencing consistent first team football.

He explained to Wales Online:

"Of course I was scared it was over,"

"As soon as it happened I was just hoping it was OK and there wasn`t too much damage.

"I was worried about whether I could actually come back from it. You need to trust and believe you can but, at first, I just couldn`t.

"I`m actually really optimistic about it these days though. At first I wasn`t positive, but I`ve picked up."

"He has told me I will make a full recovery and that I will get back to my old level.

"I told him I was worried my career was over and he immediately told me that was nonsense.

"I`m only 27 and this is only my second surgery on the knee. Another Dutch player, Ron Vlaar, had the injury three times and he is in the Dutch team and playing the best football of his career.

"I just keep focusing on that and I`m really optimistic because he has made me believe I will come back."

Swansea City fans on the Message Forum suggested that Bodde should look at a different route to his recovery, and go out to America to receive treatment from Dr Steadman, who cured Owain Tudur-Jones knee problems, but Bodde said:

"I heard rumours about going out to America for the surgery,"

"But, even if I went out there, it wouldn`t have been with Dr Steadman.

"It would have been a lot of hassle and the flight is not good for the recovery. It wasn`t what I wanted to do and I trust Heyboer entirely to make sure I make a full recovery.

"He was the surgeon who did my ankle a few years ago. My left is actually stronger than my right thanks to him."

"I was actually doing some light training over the last few weeks to keep the muscles strong. Then, after the surgery, I should be doing some really light work on a bike after four or five days.

"That`s a big difference to the last time. I was still in bed after five weeks.

"The recovery when I first did it was not that good. But now I have a team of four specialists, four people determined to get me back good as new.

"They are looking at every part of my life - what I eat, how I sleep, what training I`m doing, everything. They know it has to be perfect this time."

As for what he wants and expects to come back to, having kept a close eye on Swansea`s recent results, Bodde said: "My dream is to play in the Premiership and hopefully that`s where we will be when I come back. I definitely believe we are good enough to get there."

Click here to join in the debate on the club forum.