It's going to be an exciting summer for Leeds United who are finally heading back to the Premier League and fans are going to be consuming transfer rumours at a fair old rate as they wait to see who they are going to sign in the window.

For one player, though, that feeling of earning promotion and the joy coming with it has probably been considerably dented.

Gaetano Berardi has suffered an ACL injury and, even with a later start to next season, it looks as though the defender is going to miss pretty much all of the 20/21 campaign - or at least a very sizeable chunk of it.

Certainly, it is devastating news for the defender and Alan Hutton has said that he will likely be feeling low, after speaking to Football Insider.

He said:

“It’s absolutely horrible, no one wants to see anyone get injured, especially an ACL, that’s kind of your main football injury if you like.

“It’s difficult, you’re on the sidelines from early on, you see how they’re doing, they’re going all the way and they’re celebrating and stuff and you don’t really feel part of it.

“I remember back in 2005, I broke my leg, we ended up winning the league that year and I was out from September. I remember seeing the boys really come together and that winning mentality and you feel a little bit on the outside.

“It always happens in football and it’s how you react and come back from this.”

The Verdict

You have to have sympathy for Berardi and the way that things have gone for him, this is such a cruel injury blow.

He's a player that has not played much this season at all and in the few minutes he has had recently he has ended up with this injury.

He might not get the chance to play in the Premier League next campaign, then, but for now he'll just be focusing on getting back to full fitness as soon as he can.