Cardiac arrest in the Premier League game: Luton captain Lockyer accessible

Career continuation unclear

The good news came from the hospital a few hours later. Tom Lockyer was responsive and in a stable condition after suffering a cardiac arrest in his club Luton Town’s Premier League game against AFC Bournemouth. The defender and captain of his team was apparently lucky again, for the second time in his career. He collapsed in the promotion game against Coventry City in May and returned to play after a heart operation.

The next shocking moment came on Saturday. Without any influence from the opponent, the 29-year-old professional collapsed on the field after just over an hour. He had previously suffered a head injury in the game. Bad memories were immediately brought back, such as the tragic death of Cameroon international Marc-Vivien Foé in the semi-finals of the Confederations Cup in 2003 or the fall of Dane Christian Eriksen, who collapsed in the 2021 European Championship game against Finland and now has a pacemaker playing football again.

Lockyer was initially treated on the field. Players and fans were in shock. Teammate Issa Kaboré prayed for Lockyer on the pitch. The Luton professional was finally taken off the field on a stretcher to loud applause from the audience. The referee then sent both teams to the dressing rooms and did not whistle the game again. Luton and Bournemouth players only returned to the pitch to thank the fans in the stadium for their sympathy.

It is questionable whether Lockyer will return to the pitch. After his first collapse in May, he downplayed the incident. “It was probably a lot worse for everyone else watching than it was for me. When I came to, I was fine. “I never really felt in danger and it definitely wasn’t as bad as it looked,” Lockyer said in June. “I had the operation to correct the problem and it shouldn’t happen again. There’s actually no reason to say why this happened. I was given the all clear. I just want to draw a line now and move on.”

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