The knee surgeon of Napoli summer signing Arkadiusz Milik has claimed he can have the striker back in four to five months but has urged caution on his recovery.
Milik, 22, has been out of action since suffering a cruciate knee ligament injury in Poland’s 3-2 win over Denmark at the start of October and was expected to miss the next six months through injury.
Napoli have been left without a recognised striker since Milik’s injury and his surgeon, Pier Paolo Mariani, has estimated he will have the former Ajax striker back playing before the end of the season.
“The recovery process is proceeding well,” he told Sky Italia, via Football Italia. “After a month he can walk freely and has a normal gait with decent muscular tone.
“Now he will begin the rehabilitation process, doing more specific work in the water and then also on the pitch.
“I can give Milik back to Napoli in four to five months, but I cannot say that with certainty right now. I’ll know more when we have another check-up in a month’s time.
“There is no reason to be alarmed and the fans can wait for him. In psychological terms he is reacting very well, so he’s an athlete in every sense. Both the Napoli medics and I admire the effort he is putting in.”
The Poland international had made a bright start to life at Napoli following his £30m switch from Ajax in the summer. Despite not initially being signed as Gonzalo Higuain’s replacement, Napoli’s failure to land Mauro Icardi heaped pressure on Milik and the youngster had settled well.
Milik had scored four goals in seven league appearances before injury left him sidelined, with three of those appearances coming as a substitute.
For more stats on Arkadiusz Milik, click here to visit his WhoScored player page
