Strootman’s Doctor: Midfielder Expected to Make Full Recovery
Still basking in the glow of last weekend’s 2-1 win over Juventus, Roma fans received more good news this week with Kevin Strootman’s doctor declaring the midfielder is expected to make a full recovery.
The Netherlands' international tore his cruciate ligament in March of 2014 and has missed a season and a half of football as a result. After attempting to come back on two separate occasions, both of which resulted in the need for additional knee operations, it was rumored that Strootman’s career might be over.
But Dr. Pierpaolo Mariani, the surgeon who performed the most recent operation, has rubbished such suggestions.
“He will be playing again – this is a promise I make as a surgeon and half as a fan,” the doctor told Il Corriere dello Sport. “He had some instability in his knee so we decided to perform a revision on the previous operation.”
“The cruciate ligament has been reconstructed using his right tendon and now he will continue with his plan of recovery, which will be determined by myself and Roma’s medical staff together. I’m pleased with the operation, but we need two months to see if it was a success because a surgeon can never know immediately.”
The surgery on the former PSV player’s left knee was the third such operation in the past two years. While it may apparently take two months for the surgeon to assess the results of the surgery, this will be followed by another lengthy period of rehab for the 25-year-old. And so despite the hopeful prognosis, it looks as if Roma will be forced to navigate yet another Serie A campaign without its midfield anchor.
With four points from its opening two matches, Roma’s next outing will see it face promotion side Frosinone.