Soccer: Jonathan Woodgate's thigh injury is significantly more serious than originally diagnosed and sources close to the Real Madrid board fear it could jeopardise the defender's career.

The centre back has suffered a ruptured tendon in his left thigh as well as a torn muscle and, though the player and Madrid's medical staff publicly remain cautiously optimistic that he will play this season, the club are refusing to place a date on his return to action.

Important question marks have been raised about the handling of the injury, both by Woodgate's former club Newcastle United and now Madrid, whose medical officers came under pressure from the club president Florentino Perez to rush Woodgate back to fitness.

Woodgate, who has yet to play for Real since his £14 million transfer in the summer, broke down during a training match against the reserves on October 7th, six days before his expected debut in a friendly against a Second Division side.

Woodgate, who pulled up chasing a ball, was diagnosed as having a recurrence of the tear in the left rectus femoris muscle, which forms part of the quadriceps and had kept him out since April 18th.

But scans have since revealed that Woodgate also tore the intra-muscle, or aponeurosis, tendon - an injury with a recovery time of closer to six months, rather than the prognosis of a 10-week lay-off.Madrid's official medical report describes Woodgate's injury as a "muscle fibre tear" and the club have made no announcement about the tendon. - Guardian Service