Dundee United new boy Scott Lochhead has revealed how his injury mystery was finally solved thanks to a chance encounter at Hampden.
The attacking midfielder joined the Tangerines this week, bringing to an end a painful and baffling period for the former Celtic and Rangers youth player.
Lochhead searched in vain for answers to his ailment, which was finally shown to be a medial plica knee injury. It kept him out of the game for 10 months stretching back to November but he is now fully recovered.
He has given a lot of the credit for his comeback to current Aston Villa physio Dave Henderson, who stepped in to offer his assistance after chatting to the teenager at the national stadium back in March.
Henderson, who also worked at Hibs and Newcastle, finally got Lochhead’s problem diagnosed and lined up surgery to correct the condition, an inflammation or enlargement of the protective synovial capsule of the knee.
Now the 17-year-old is looking to resurrect his career with the Tangerines.
“I left Celtic in November and had a bad injury called a medial plica on my knee that no one could solve. So I found myself without a club looking to get over the injury.
“It was a hard time for me. I was starting to get a bit down, especially as I never had a club backing me throughout that time.
“I was getting scans and nothing was showing up so I was beginning to think that might be the end of it for me. I just tried to see the right people to get answers and eventually I found someone to help me.
“The physio who sorted it out for me was Dave Henderson, who is now at Aston Villa. I just bumped into him once at Hampden around about March time by chance and he looked after me from then on.
“It was him who sorted out the operation for me. Eventually, I got surgery and have been recovering for the last 10 weeks but everything is fine now.
“I am back playing now and am feeling fit so that’s the main thing.”
Lochhead disclosed that United’s reputation for giving young players a chance in the first team helped him decide Tannadice was the right place for him.
He said: “I have seen that if you play well and work hard as a young player then you will get your chance at United.
“That was a big factor in my decision to sign. I just thought there was a better opportunity for me at United to progress my career.
“I just didn’t see that opportunity at Celtic. I didn’t want to be stuck at Celtic when I was 19, 20 playing in the youth team.”