Hull midfielder Ryan Mason discharged from hospital after fracturing skull

Hull City midfielder Ryan Mason has been discharged from hospital, the club confirmed in a statement on Monday (30 January) evening. The 25-year-oldsuffered a fractured skull during a sickening accidental clash of heads with Gary Cahill during the 13th minute of a Premier League fixture against Chelsea on 22 January.

Treated for several minutes on the pitch at Stamford Bridge, Mason was given oxygen before being stretchered off the field with a neck brace. The former Tottenham Hotspur stalwart was then taken to St Mary's Hospital in Paddington, where he underwent surgery.

Support for Mason quickly poured in from across the footballing world and Hull later revealed that the player was conscious and had been speaking of the incident during a visit from club captain Michael Dawson, club doctor Mark Waller, head of medical Rob Price and club secretary Matt Wild.

A second release on Tuesday (24 January) claimed that the one-cap England international was continuing to make "excellent progress". The Tigers also established that they would not be providing any further updates until there had been a change in Mason's condition.

"The club is delighted to report that Ryan Mason has been discharged from St Mary's Hospital in London," Hull said on Monday. "Ryan will now continue his recovery and early stages of rehabilitation at home and the club would once again like to place on record its thanks to everybody who has been involved in Ryan's care so far."

Dr Waller added: "The number of messages offering support during Ryan's recovery has been quite overwhelming. It is certainly true to say that the football family rallies around at times like this and we would like to thank everybody that has been in contact with us in recent days. We would also like to say a special 'thank you' to Julian Redhead and Kevin Tsang, two consultants who have been instrumental in Ryan's recovery to this point.

"Their calmness and professional manner enabled us all to have absolute confidence that Ryan was in good hands. A&E departments in many towns and cities nationwide have had some criticism recently but I have nothing but admiration for all of the staff who cared for us last Sunday."