Burnley's Jordan Beyer provides grim details behind his 21-month absence

The defender has endured 21 months of injury hell since last representing the Clarets in December 2023, when he was forced off with a serious knee injury against Aston Villa.

Beyer did take part in Burnley’s pre-season and made an emotional return during a friendly against Fleetwood Town, only for his progress to be halted by another setback.

Speaking to the Burnley Express earlier this month, Burnley boss Scott Parker revealed the German had since picked up a hamstring complaint.

But speaking on the Athletes Grind Code podcast, Beyer says he is close to “getting back to full throttle”.

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Reflecting on his long journey back, Beyer explained: “It all started in October 2023 against Luton, that’s when I tore my inner meniscus. It’s not a big deal, it was a pretty simple operation: They cut off a small piece.

“But something got jammed in my knee when I made a wrong move. It felt like a small piece was stuck in my knee joint. To this day, I don’t know how I lasted the 90 minutes against Liverpool.

“I was of the opinion the whole time that the bone was just a symptom, not the cause. The specialists are 99 per cent right. But it was such a complicated thing for me, it was just unfortunate.

“After 10 minutes [in August 2024], I went in and said: ‘I’m not coming back until I have surgery’. You can guess three times what they found. The cartilage that had detached from the knee and remained stuck in the joint. The pressure caused the bone to bleed.”

While Beyer is nearing a return, he has been left out of Burnley’s 25-man squad list, meaning he won’t be able to feature until January 2026 at the earliest.

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