North End centre-back Liam Chilvers has warned England star David Beckham not to expect to rush back too soon having been sidelined with the same injury for 13 months.
Chilvers suffered the same injury in March 2008 after pulling up in the warm-up before the Lilywhite's 2-1 win against Charlton Athletic thanks to two goals from Chris Brown.
The injury left the North End defender with a lengthy spell on the sidelines, only returning to first-team action in April 2009 after coming on as an 89th minute sub in the memorable 2-1 away victory against Birmingham.
Beckham ruptured his Achilles tendon in the final minute of AC Milan's 1-0 victory over Chievo on Sunday night and will more-than-likely miss a shot at his fourth World Cup.
The winger would have been the first England player to achieve such a feat and could have gone near to equalling Peter Shilton's record of 125 caps - with the LA Galaxy and AC Milan star on 115.
Talking about the set back to the ex-England captain, Chilvers said: "When I woke up this morning it was on the TV and stuff and it brought back memories for me.
"It's the sort of injury that you wouldn't want anyone to suffer from. I mean they're saying four months but it will be four months until he is back jogging - but he'll be very lucky.
"He will be out a long time but he could be in worse situations! He's not going to worry about anything financially and he's got the best physiotherapists and stuff around him from the England set up.
"I think that AC Milan turned around and said there's another contract for him there next year so it's not a bad thing to worry about because they won't go back on it."
Chilvers came on as a late first-half sub in North End's 3-2 home win against Nottingham Forest on Saturday after Youl Mawene limped off with a groin problem.
And the big defender is keen to put in a good performance against Sheffield Wednesday, if selected, to put himself permanently in Darren Ferguson's plans.
Liam went on to say: "It was good for me to get on but it was unfortunate for Youl (Mawene) to get injured. It was the first first-team game I have played in around three months so it was good to get on and good for the team to win.
"It's been a bit frustrating for me that I haven't been playing but the lads who have gone in have done well so I can't really question that. It's just been a case of waiting - unfortunately it has come about through an injury but I've got to do the best I can.
"Hopefully if I do well I will stay in the manager's ideas even when everyone is fit - so hopefully it will all go well."
It was also Chilvers' first appearance under new North End boss Ferguson - and his next game might be up against a former gaffer.
"It will be a very difficult game. Alan Irvine went there and got manager of the month - he hasn't done as well since but when we played them at their place earlier in the season it was a hard game so now that Alan is in charge of them it's going to be a hard game as well," added Liam.
"So we'll know what to expect and it's a big game for us if we can get the three points. It could lift us further towards the play-offs and lift us further away form the wrong end of the table!
"Obviously when we won on Saturday and you look at the table it suddenly dawns on you that it's five points from Cardiff in the last position so by no means is it beyond us.
"As long as we can keep on picking up the points there's always the chance that we can make it. We'll be waiting on other people to make mistakes but if we do our job, which is all we can do, and other results go our way, it's not impossible."
