David Cuffley The gruesome injury that shook football has brought painful memories flooding back for Norwich City's own horror leg break victim.Teenage striker Kris Renton admitted the extent of Arsenal star Eduardo da Silva's injuries against Birmingham had left him ashen-faced in front of his TV on Saturday night.

David Cuffley

The gruesome injury that shook football has brought painful memories flooding back for Norwich City's own horror leg break victim.

Teenage striker Kris Renton admitted the extent of Arsenal star Eduardo da Silva's injuries against Birmingham had left him ashen-faced in front of his TV on Saturday night.

The 17-year-old Scot was shocked and stunned by BBC replays of the moment Eduardo suffered a broken left fibula and dislocated ankle when he was tackled by former Norwich loan defender Martin Taylor in the Premier League game at St Andrew's.

Renton, who last season became the Canaries' youngest first team player of all time, has just started kicking a ball again, nearly five months after suffering a displaced fracture of his tibia and fibula in an FA Premier Academy League game against Chelsea.

But Eduardo's agony, witnessed by millions, was a grim reminder of his own misfortune away from the public gaze earlier in the season.

Renton said: “I did see it, watching Match of the Day. At first they said they weren't going to show it, so I thought I'd be fine watching it. Then they showed it and it brought back some painful memories.

“I couldn't believe it when it actually came on. I was sitting there with my mum, who was visiting me for the weekend, and she asked me if I was all right.

“I know what Eduardo will be going through and I feel so sorry for him. But that's football and these things happen.”

Renton said Taylor, who was shown the red card for the tackle, was not a player who would deliberately injure an opponent.

“It was very unfortunate but Martin Taylor is not at all like that. He is really friendly and not the kind of player to go out to hurt somebody.”

Eduardo's long road to recovery would be a mental battle as well as a physical one, said Renton.

“When it happens, you wonder if you're ever going to get on a football field again and it's really, really difficult,” he said.

“A big part of it is trying to stay positive and you do need people around you to keep you going.

“There are good days and bad days and it's hard because there are times when you can't really see yourself running or doing anything, it's that sore.”

Renton, from Musselburgh near Edinburgh, suffered the double break to his left leg in City Under-18s' away match against Chelsea on October 6. Play was held up for 15 minutes so he could receive attention while the referee took both teams off the field. He underwent surgery the following day.

After three first team appearances for City towards the end of last season, it was a bitter blow.

He said: “It was bad timing because I'd been scoring a lot of goals for the under-18s and I wasn't far away from another call-up.

“It's been nearly five months. In the last couple of weeks I've got on to the pitches and tried jogging and kicking a ball again.”

But there was no target date for him to play again, he said.

“They're keeping that quiet from me at the moment! I've been told I will not play again this season but I'd like to try to get on the bench for a game.

“I'm working every day until about four o'clock, doing weights in the gym to build up my upper body strength, getting my legs stronger, and getting my running technique back the way it was.

“I'm not allowed any contact just now. I can't kick as hard with my left foot as I could before and it's going to be a couple of weeks before I can do that.

“I'm restricted because I had an operation two weeks ago and had two pins taken out of my ankle.

“It's so slow when I look back, it seems like a year ago since it happened.

“All the physios at the club have helped me. Rod Dyer has done most of my stuff with me, and Ricky Martin and Darren Bloodworth have kept me going and kept reassuring me.”

It was during the 2-1 victory at Leicester last April that Renton broke the record as City's youngest player, at the age of 16 years and 276 days, beating Ryan Jarvis' previous mark by six days.

Renton was in good form at the start of this season, scoring five goals in seven Academy fixtures before his injury.

The striker's two-year scholarship expires in the summer, when the Canaries have the option of extending it a year.