Club doctor outlines plan for Zaniolo's recovery

Club Chief Medical Officer Doctor Andrea Causarano spoke to Roma Radio on Tuesday morning, to offer some additional insight following Nicolo Zaniolo’s knee surgery.

Zaniolo, 20, underwent the reconstruction of his anterior cruciate ligament on Monday at Villa Stuart private hospital – after he suffered the serious injury during the defeat to Juventus at the weekend.

In a statement released after the surgery, the club’s medical staff confirmed that the surgery had been “completed successfully”.

Speaking to Roma Radio, Dr. Causarano outlined some further details about the procedure - and the plan in place for the player's recovery.

"The surgery was perfectly successful, thanks to the expertise and professionalism of Professor Mariani - who reconstructed the anterior cruciate ligament and repaired the external meniscus,” Dr. Causarano said.

“We were with Nicolo throughout the day – he arrived at the hospital at 8am and was operated on by Professor Mariani in the afternoon. He was calm and mature about everything, despite only being a 20-year-old.

“We said goodbye to Nicolo late on Monday evening; he was calm, he had woken up from the anaesthesia and was joking around with everyone. Everything went well, other than the sadness for such a serious injury.

"He faced the surgery in the right way, with the right attitude. He was surrounded by his close friends and family and you could feel the support that gave him, along with the certainty he had that he will come back to playing football just as he did before, just like the vast majority of players who undergo this surgery do.”

Dr. Causarano was asked how long Zaniolo is expected to be sidelined for – with many newspapers anticipating he will not return to action for the Giallorossi this season, while others have suggested he may yet be capable of returning to fitness prior to the start of the 2020 European Championships in June, where Italy will play all their group games in Rome.

“From today [Tuesday] he will begin the first phase of his rehabilitation on the knee,” Dr Causarano said, “because it’s important to start with a few exercises to allow the circulation around the area to resume and to regain some functionality in the joint as soon as possible. So we’re already on ‘Day 1’ of the recovery.

“Recovery times after the reconstruction of the ACL are not precise, things can vary based on the circumstances and the individual and you have to take things step-by-step. During the rehabilitation we will evaluate which steps Nicolo needs to go through and we will proceed accordingly.

“It’s impossible to say right now how long he will need to recover – it will be a pretty long rehabilitation journey and it's difficult to offer any precise time frame. We will aim to manage things in a way that respects the best interest of the player, his future career and above all his overall health.”

The doctor was also asked to address some rumours in certain quarters of the press that Zaniolo had complained of a knee problem prior to the game on Sunday night.

“I can assure everybody, Nicolo did not have any issues with his knee – the joint was in a perfectly healthy condition up until Sunday’s game,” he said.

“Against Torino the previous week Nicolo suffered a blow to the vastus mediales (a thigh muscle), which is near the knee. A normal knock, which we made him rest for a few days – but he trained on Thursday, Friday and Saturday without any further issues. The knee was not affected, he was treated for a normal blow that we see in hundreds of football matches.

"Everyone can be assured, Nicolo went out there on the pitch in top condition, but unfortunately fate had different ideas for him. It happened to him as it happened to a Juve player just 10 minutes earlier. They are very common injuries, perhaps they are becoming more common these days.

"Us, like Juventus, have had two cruciate injuries in the first half of the season [Davide Zappacosta being the other].

"We go on with a bitterness about the injury, but the certainty that Nicolo will be back stronger than before.”