Leverkusen’s Robbie Kruse has been ruled out for the rest of the season. The Australian international twisted his knee during training on Friday where he was sent for an MRI the following day. The scan confirmed the worst and revealed he had tore his anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee. The injury puts Kruse’s chances at appearing in the 2014 World Cup in serious threat and will be a huge blow to Australia’s chances in the competition. If he has any hope of making the World Cup it will come down to Leverkusen’s decision on what treatment method is to be used. The two options given is the normal ACL rehabilitation or the LARS surgery. The normal ACL rehabilitation would mean he would be out for around 6-8 months. Whereas the LARS surgery could mean he could be back before the end of the season. The treatment has been used on athletes before which has resulted in them returning to action after only 3 months. This is because the LARS surgery uses synthetics to repair the damaged ligaments. However, the surgery is regarded as a radical step and risky as its long term effects are somewhat unknown at the moment.

The surgery has been used on a number of Australian Rules Football players where Dr Cameron Norsworthy has voiced his concerns. He has performed the surgery and said, “What we know for sure is that the LARS will always fail, we just hope it fails further enough down the track that they have completed their career. Anything man-made that you put inside the knee will eventually fail; it's just the environment of the knee and the stresses and demands upon it."

The consensus in Australia seems to be that while there are athletes out there that want to take the risk so they can return quicker, the majority are avoiding the treatment. Former Socceroo and FOX Sports pundit Robbie Slater has said that Robbie Kruse would be silly to consider the treatment and doesn’t think Leverkusen would allow it. In addition he said, “No one is irreplaceable, but you can't underestimate how big a blow this is for the Socceroos and the kid. He's at the height of his career at Leverkusen. I have got no doubt he'll come back from this, but you feel sorry for anyone who is going to miss such a big tournament.''

That being said Leverkusen would most likely deny this treatment being used and therefore resort to the normal rehabilitation. More will be known soon as he is due to undergo an operation within the week.