Dixon in battle to save career

 Euro 2008 Group D: Terry Dixon, the young Ireland forward, is facing a battle to save his fledgling career after being told he requires more surgery on his dislocated kneecap.

The Tottenham Hotspur trainee, who has received two call-ups into Steve Staunton's senior squad despite having never appeared for the English Premiership club's reserve side, sustained the original injury last month in an under-18 match against Norwich City.

Dixon (16), was stretchered off after 30 minutes and underwent surgery to stabilise the knee a week later. John McDermott, the Spurs academy manager, initially claimed that surgeons were "very happy" with Dixon's progress but he has suffered complications and now needs a second operation, which is scheduled for later this week.

"We know this will be a tough time for Terry," McDermott said. "He'll be in the gym, away from the training pitch where he excels and it's a mental challenge for him now to rebuild the strength in the knee. He'll do it though - he's determined and although he'll have his ups and downs, he'll get through it."

Tottenham are maintaining a positive public front on Dixon's prospects of rehabilitation but in private there are serious concerns that he will ever fully recover. Although it is very rare for kneecap dislocations to lead to premature retirement, in certain cases the joint can be so severely weakened that it becomes impossible to place it under great stress without risking further dislocation.

Dixon's cause will not be aided by the fact that, as a teenager, his body is still subject to dramatic growth spurts. "Adolescents are particularly prone to these sorts of injuries as their bodies are not yet mature," Dr Robin Allum, the outgoing president of the British Association for Surgery of the Knee, said. "It occurs because the skeleton tends to outgrow the muscles, especially after a period of rapid growth.

"One dislocation is not necessarily a problem and it should be eminently treatable but, like most injuries, there are a small minority of cases which don't respond well to treatment.

"It is certainly not a good thing to happen to someone who plays sport at a high level. There is a concern in this case because the demands that will be placed on the player's knee over the next 10 or 15 years are very extreme. The patella (kneecap) almost has to be 110 per cent before he can resume playing due to the stresses and strains of competitive professional football."

The news will be a crushing blow to Dixon, who first leapt to prominence when he produced a string of impressive performances in last season's Uefa under-17 Championship qualifiers. In May, Staunton drafted him into the full international squad for the training camp in Portugal and the subsequent home friendly against Chile.

Dixon - who was born in London but qualifies for Ireland through his mother, who was born in Co Cavan - was not called into action at Lansdowne Road but his star continued to ascend. He made his debut for the under-21s last month as a substitute in the 1-0 defeat to Belgium and would almost certainly have been selected by manager Don Givens for the meeting with Luxembourg on October 18th, had fate not cruelly intervened.