Published: 17:02, 7 October 2025 | Updated: 17:02, 7 October 2025

Tom Lockyer has revealed he has been cleared for a return to football nearly two years after suffering a cardiac arrest during a Premier League match.

The 30-year-old defender has not played a competitive match for club or country since collapsing on the field while captaining Luton Town in a fixture at Bournemouth's Vitality Stadium on December 16, 2023.

Lockyer, who was 29 at the time, described in the aftermath how he 'literally died', with his heart stopping for two minutes and 41 seconds during the harrowing incident.

He has since been fitted with an implantable cardioverter-defibrillator (ICD) to regulate his abnormal heart rhythm and has also visited Professor Sanjay Shah, the cardiologist who helped Christian Eriksen following his cardiac arrest at Euro 2020.

It has been a tricky road back for Lockyer, who is currently without a club after Luton released him last summer - although he has been told that he could continue to use the club's facilities and work with their physios and medical staff during his rehabilitation. 

The...