In one of the stranger stories of the day it has been confirmed by their official website that Niall Horan, member of pop group One Direction, has been rehabbing his injured knee after surgery at Chelsea Football Club. The pop star underwent major knee surgery last month and Chelsea gave him full access to the club’s rehab and recovery unit. The club understandably kept things under wraps to keep the legions of “Directioners” away from the club’s training ground.

Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho was asked by The Sun about Niall Horan’s rehab:

“I was worried for a while because I thought, ‘Nobody can know that Niall is at Cobham – we’ll have thousands of girls at the gates!’ Niall had seriously big surgery – an injury any football player would be scared of suffering. He really needs a good medical department. My kids are big fans but they haven’t been to the training ground to see him – he has a lot of work to do.”

This isn’t the first time a member of One Direction has had links to a football club as fellow bandmember Louis Tomlinson has a reserve noncontract deal with Doncaster Rovers. It may seem strange that Horan was given access but if anything this is a brilliant marketing strategy for the club to reach out to the millions of One Direction fans by simply offering up their facilities to a member of the group. Maybe those same fans will buy Chelsea gear to support their injured idol or even get a customized Chelsea shirt with “HORAN” and the number one plastered on the back.

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