Brett Emerton has admitted to playing a large chunk of the last A-League season with damaged ankle ligaments.
The former Blackburn Rovers midfielder joined Sydney FC at the beginning of the 2011/12 campaign but had to hobble through with an injured ankle which he only recently had surgery on.
Emerton played 18 games with the problem but says that all is going well in his rehab as he plans to be fit for the beginning of next term.
"I'm hoping for the ok this week to start walking on it, because my upper body is getting a serious work out. I should be running again by August or September, which will be a big relief.
"The surgery was to reattach the ligament to the bone, and have a bit of a clean-up while they were in there.
"It happened against Brisbane down at Kogarah, just before the final whistle I remember a sharp pain as I made a particular movement.
"Afterwards the surgeon told me that effectively I couldn't make it any worse. So they gave me the option of playing on, and it became a case of managing it.""The ankle's as good as can be expected -- I had the operation five months ago since when I've been on crutches and unable to put any weight on it," Emerton told The Daily Telegraph.
