Wayne Rooney is now understood to have damaged the tarsometatarsal joint at the tip of his fractured fourth metatarsal. The fracture revealed from last Thursday's scan is more complex: it is possible that he has a hairline crack on the joint. If that diagnosis is true, it should delay his recovery.
Such small breaks, known as non-disclosed fractures, are often undetectable on X-rays, hence it's not being seen on the scan taken immediately after the injury. If there is a further fracture, significant wear and tear could also affect the ligaments close to the joint, which consists of the articulations of the five metatarsals, the three cuneiforms and the cuboid bone.
"He certainly won't be coming back any quicker," said Ian Sargent, an orthopaedic surgeon at
It is also known as the Lisfranc joint: named after the 19th-century French surgeon Jacques Lisfranc de St Martin, who gained notoriety for his operations within Napoleon's cavalry. When horsemen fell with a foot wrenched in the stirrup, Lisfranc's only option was to perform a partial amputation.