Pape Souare 'very lucky' as Alan Pardew says broken leg will sideline Crystal Palace defender for six months

Souare was involved in a serious car accident on the M4 on Sunday that required him to be airlifted to hospital

Crystal Palace defender Pape Souare suffered a broken leg in the accident (PA)

Crystal Palace defender Pape Souare will miss the majority of the 2016/17 season after suffering a broken leg in a crash on the M4 motorway that left him with a broken leg last weekend, with manager Alan Pardew admitting that he was “very lucky” the injury was not more serious.

26-year-old Souare was travelling in his Mercedes-Benz G-Class when he was involved in an accident that resulted in him suffering a broken femur. Fire crews were forced to cut the roof off his vehicle in order to extract the Premier League footballer and rush him to a nearby hospital by air ambulance, where it was confirmed that while he had broken his leg, there was no long-term or life-changing damage.

The Senegal international is expected to miss up to six months through his rehabilitation, but could return near March and feature in Palace’s campaign at the end of the season. Pardew though was thankful for the expert care and treatment that was made available to Souare as soon as the crash occurred.

“It was a terrible accident. We owe a huge debt to the London Air Ambulance and the surgeons who helped him,” Pardew said at his pre-match press conference on Friday ahead of this weekend’s Premier League encounter against basement side Stoke City.

“He's having some bad news with his father, who is very sick so maybe that was on his mind. It's just a warning to everybody, car accidents are accidents in the end of the day, you have to be alive and alert to everything that's going on.

“He isn't having the best of times, but we are all very supportive of him and we love Pape and we can't wait to see him back.”

Fire crews had to cut the top of Souare's Mercedes off to extract him (PA)

Souare was involved in the accident on the M4 motorway (PA)

Souare was airlifted to hospital were it was confirmed he had broken his leg (PA)

Addressing when Souare could return, Pardew said: “There is nothing in the engineering of the knee and ankle that's a problem so we think five to six months he should be up and running around again.

“I expect him to play again this season. I'm not too clear on the details it was such a quick incident, the car pulled in front of him and he had very little time to react and therefore the accident occurred.”


 Souare was involved in a car accident on the M4 (Getty)
 (2016 Getty Images)

Pardew wasn’t the only one to pass on his thanks to the medical team that treated Souare, and as part of donation to the London Air Ambulance on behalf of the club, co-chairman Steve Parish praised the medics for their immediate response in treating the left-back.

“We would like to make special mention of the London Air Ambulance service who flew Pape directly from the scene to the hospital ensuring that he rapidly had access to the very best medical care,” said Parish.

“The club note that this organisation is a charity and completely funded from donations as such we are making a contribution and would urge everyone to support this invaluable service for the people of London.”