After a worrying injury to Hugo Rodallega ended the players involvement in Wigan Athletics game with Everton, it was thought that it would see the Colombian out for three months, but tests have indicated that the injury is not as bad as first thought.
Hugo has been a good servant to Latics and when it was diagnosed that the player could be sidelined for three months, it was a worrying moment for Roberto Martinez and the latics fans.
Further tests have now been done since the swelling has gone down and it is now thought that the initial three months that it was thought it would take to get him back to full fitness was not the case. The fulll statement reads:
The injury sustained by striker Hugo Rodallega against Everton is NOT as bad as was first thought, Latics manager Roberto Martinez confirmed this morning to the Official Wigan Athletic Website.
No time span can be put on his recover, says the gaffer, but it will certainly be nowhere near the three months first predicted.
Rodallega was stretchered off after a challenge from by Everton striker Denis Stracqualursi in injury time at Goodison Park, and initial thoughts were that he had sustained knee serious ligament damage.
However, following scans yesterday, Martinez confirmed the news was good: “The scans came back really positively,” he said, “it doesn’t seem like there are any big concern in terms of the structure of the knee.
“We won’t know how long he’s exactly going to be but what’s clear is that the injury is not as bad as we thought. It’s fantastic news and now we’re going to make sure that Hugo recovers well and gets back on the football pitch as quickly as possible.”
Martinez says that Rodallega is a very positive person, and that he will be desperate to make a fast recovery.
“He’s the sort of player who lives to play the game, so he will be desperate to get fit. It’s going to be a difficult period but in the same way it’s going to allow us to work on different aspects of his full fitness and we’ll make sure that when he comes back he’s a stronger players than the one who suffered the challenge.”
Martinez said the fact the injury was not as bad as feared was a reflection of Rodallega’s general fitness: “To ride a challenge like that shows you how fit he was, and how hard he works on a daily basis to avoid that sort of injury.
“Now he can concentrate on coming back even fitter. Psychologically the hardest moment that you have to approach as a footballer is being injured and it can be a really tough time.
“But you need to convert that into a real positive where you can concentrate on individual progress and try to improve certain areas of your body strength and just get the body stronger for when you’re going to get back into full fitness.”
“We will be working with Hugo on a daily basis but we cannot rush him back too quickly, because he is a big player for us and we cannot afford to have him out for an even longer period than is necessary.”
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