Barnsley FC midfielder Luca Connell opens up on his battle back to fitness after suffering from post-viral fatigue


Barnsley midfielder Luca Connell. Picture: Tony Johnson.

The sight of Luca Connell getting just over an hour under his belt after returning from a debilitating illness provided it in their 5-1 EFL Trophy loss at Valley Parade which would otherwise have been a total write-off.

It followed the midfielder’s start seven days earlier in the Reds’ FA Cup replay at Horsham. Connell is not understood to be the ineligible player who was erroneously fielded in the November 14 fixture which has prompted the Football Association to remove the club from the competition on Wednesday.

It is easy to forget just how much Connell’s star had been firmly in the ascendant last season.

He was a classy cog at the centre of operations as Barnsley reached the play-off final and went so agonisingly close to promotion in a campaign when the Liverpudlian was named by his peers in League One’s team of the season.

As devastating as events were in that cruel season finale at Wembley, what followed next was far worse in a worrying time not just in Connell’s career, but his life.

Laid low in high summer, a mystery illness was subsequently diagnosed as post-viral fatigue after several rounds of testing.

Throughout late summer and for much of the first half of the autumn, the former Bolton and Celtic player was laid up on his couch before his condition gradually started to improve and he could start to rehabilitate in earnest.

His ‘nursing’ back into the first-team is still not finished yet – he is yet to feature in a league game this term.

But three successive cup appearances, including two starts, is a beginning.

Opening up on his illness, Connell said: “It was a strange one, you can’t prepare for it and don’t know it is coming. It was just all of a sudden, (but) it’s in the past now hopefully and I can just push on.

“It was just headaches and (feeling) wiped-out, tired and sick. It was just all of it, really, but constant throughout the day.

“I went to see some specialists in Manchester and London and they were even a little bit confused and they didn’t know what to put it down to.

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“After I’d done all my tests, they just said: ‘you will start feeling better, hopefully soon.’ And it’s just how it went.

“I think it was post-viral fatigue, which is what they call it. You can have it for two weeks or eight months or whatever. So you don’t really know. So I am just going to build from here now.

“I was probably on the couch for 11 or 12 weeks, maybe. Then, it was a case of coming back in and I had to start doing walks and jogs and I am feeling good, that’s the main thing.

“I just had to rest and look after myself. Thanks to the physios and medical team, it’s all good now.”

While building up his fitness and improving his health was Connell’s major concern, psychologically coping with his sudden absence from the first-team – he was a regular in 22-23 – was hard.

More especially earlier this season, when he was stuck on the couch at the family home in Liverpool well away from the daily banter was flying around on the training ground and the match-day environment that all players cherish.
The Merseysiders added: “You miss it when you are on the couch and thinking of training and the laugh in the changing rooms and everything like that.

“It was not until I was feeling a little bit better and coming to watch the games that I really got the feel for it. You see the lads before the game and just want to be going out. But thankfully I am sure my time will come.

“Families and friends are the ones there for you and I was back in Liverpool for most of it with my family. They looked after me.”

Connell’s next important step is making his maiden league appearance of 23-24.

But the one thing that he will not be doing is overly pushing himself and he will be guided by the club’s medical team.
He commented: “It’s building up more minutes and as much as I want to get back, I also have to be reminded that I’ve got to look after the health stuff. I am feeling good and building and that’s all I can ask for.

“Everyone around the club has been making sure I have been feeling okay as well as how I am performing.

“They have been really good with me and I cannot thank them enough for that.

“I am feeling good and hopefully I can push a little more and get more minutes in the tank.”

Connell was also handed the fillip of wearing the captain’s armband versus Bradford City and Horsham.

He continued: “Definitely. It’s good. Jords (Jordan Williams) has led the team very well this season and led by example and been brilliant. But it’s always good to wear it.”



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