A FORMER Manchester United wonderkid is suing a doctor for £7million over an “unnecessary” operation.
Sylvan Ebanks-Blake went under the knife after breaking his leg in 2013.
Sylvan Ebanks-Blake is suing a doctor for an ‘unnecessary’ operationGetty Images – Getty
He came through the youth ranks at Manchester UnitedGetty – Contributor
The retired striker never fully recovered from the injury as he did not return to top-flight football after the surgery.
The 39-year-old believes that his surgeon, Prof James Calder, performed an “unnecessary” and “destructive” operation on his ankle.
As a result, Ebanks-Blake says that the procedure caused his top-flight career to end prematurely.
His barrister Simeon Maskrey KC told Mrs Justice Lambert at London’s High Court: “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”
It is also part of the footballer’s case that he claims he was not asked for proper consent before the operation.
However, Prof Calder’s lawyers have argued that Ebanks-Blake overestimated his skills.
They said he “had an overoptimistic view of his own powers of recovery”.
Barrister Martin Forde KC added: “Far from curtailing the claimant’s career, the defendant will argue that his clinical skills prolonged the career of a professional footballer, who had suffered a very serious injury.”
Ebanks-Blake was a promising forward in his youth days as he represented England at the Under-21 level.
He also played youth football for Manchester United before leaving the club in 2006 for Plymouth Argyle.
The striker spent two years there before joining Wolves and established himself at the club.
He scored 62 goals in 193 appearances for the club, including ten in the Premier League.
Ebanks-Blake helped the club reach the top-flight in 2009 and was part of the iconic strike partnership alongside Irishman Kevin Doyle.
He spent five years at the Molineux before the broken fibula injury struck.
Ebanks-Blake left the club at the end of that season and bounced around clubs until he retired in 2019 at Walsall Wood following another leg fracture.
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