A massive injury crisis has hit the Premier League. It’s not at Newcastle United, nor Everton. Instead it’s in the snowy slopes of Vail, Colorado in the United States.

Richard Steadman, the top football-serving surgeon in the world is himself injured after breaking an arm in a skiing accident. The doctor to the stars is the safest pair of hands in football and specializes in knee surgery. And the injury to the doctor will definitely trouble medical experts at Premier League clubs and football clubs around the world.

For example, Steadman’s injury means that James Vaughan’s surgery will be delayed, which will increase the time until Vaughan makes a return to Everton. It’ll also undoubtedly cause delays in the surgeries for other professional footballers.

Here are other projects that Steadman has worked on that you may be interested in:

• Owen Hargreaves recently went under the knife, but is planning to visit Steadman around the New Year for a second operation,
• Ruud van Nistelrooy recently returned from visiting Steadman in Colorado to learn that he’ll be out for the rest of he season,
• Doctor Steadman was the surgeon responsible for prolonging Alan Shearer’s career at Newcastle,
• And the list goes on and on. The surgeon is the number one expert on knee-related injuries for footballers, whether they’re in the Premier League or Championship.

For Steadman, it must be nice for his practice to be located in beautiful Vail and have some of the top athletes from around the world travel directly to his offices. For the players themselves, surgery is never a likeable prospect but at least they have the opportunity to travel to Vail to have it done.