Pre-season smiles for AC Milan's Scottish skipper after year of pain

"I feel so lucky to be able to walk, I feel so lucky to be able to play football."

AC Milan captain Christy Grimshaw, has a new perspective on life after returning from an injury nightmare that threatened to turn a dream move to Italy sour.

Before the likes of Lewis Ferguson, Scott McTominay and Billy Gilmour started tearing it up in Serie A, fellow Scot Grimshaw was already there, making her mark.

"They are following me," jokes the 29-year-old midfielder, who made the eye-catching move from French club Metz to Milan in 2020.

Her efforts in the famous stripes of the Rossoneri earned her the captaincy and a contract extension to 2027, although that good news was delivered as she was recovering from the first of two knee surgeries.

It took 13 months before Grimshaw returned to playing at the tail end of last season.

"It was a bittersweet moment because I was so happy but at the same time I wasn't involved," she says of becoming captain.

"Even just thinking about it, I could tear up because mentally – I had never had a long term injury before – it was so difficult seeing the girls prepare for last pre-season.

"You learn through the process. If you have never experienced something like that you don't really know a lot about yourself and how to deal with it. For me, in the first few months I was thinking 'how am I going to do 10, 11 months of this?'

"Some moments were horrendous. I never thought I would sleep without pain. I was walking with a bent knee, I couldn't even think of myself walking without pain again."

Now Grimshaw is in the thrust of pre-season and very much looking forward to the new campaign.

"I never thought I would be smiling doing running and jumping tests, but I am so thankful because I had such a hard time of it last year," she explains.

"My whole perspective of playing football has actually changed because I appreciate the littlest of things."

Prior to her lengthy spell on the sidelines, Grimshaw had amassed 16 Scotland caps.

While her initial focus is on making her mark for AC Milan, getting back involved for her country is also very much in her thoughts.

And while she may have been out of sight, she certainly has not been out of the mind of recently-appointed head coach Melissa Andreatta.

"She phoned me up, mid-May, and had obviously heard a little bit about how things were for me," revealed Grimshaw.

"I wasn't in a fit state to be selected and she said she hoped I could be back 100% after the summer. I want to play again for the national team in the future.

"Just putting myself in the best place to be chosen for club football or international football, that feeling is so important and I didn't realise how important it was until this moment, being healthy."