The Mexican forward has had a successful operation on his left ankle. He is expected to take about four weeks to get over it.
Doctor Antoni Dalmau, the surgeon who operated on Giovani Dos Santos, and first team doctor Ricard
Pruna held a press conference this Monday afternoon to talk about the operation and how it went.
Description of the operation
“Giovani dos Santos had a floating bone caused by the lack of consolidation of an
ossification nucleus in the ankle bone. This defect in bone formation occurs behind the ankle bone
during the growth phase,” said Doctor Dalmau. “It is a fairly common defect but
doesn’t bother everyone, with discomfort being most frequent in sports players such as
Giovani. We’ve taken out this floating bone and cleaned up the area to prevent the pinching
which leads to the discomfort, and everything went very well.”
Four weeks on the sidelines
Doctor Pruna said it would be about four weeks before
Giovani could go back to training with the rest of the players. “During the first two weeks
the player will follow post-op procedure to check there have been no mishaps and starting in week
three he’ll begin simple recovery work. At the end of the four weeks he will be able to play
as usual.”
Background
“We kept an eye on this injury because the player told us in pre-season that
his left ankle had been giving him some pain since he was a child, but he could still play,”
said Ricard Pruna. Due to the discomfort the player has been given local anti-inflammatory
infiltrations throughout the season which have enabled him to play the entire season with no impact
on his performance. The doctors said that “today’s operation is not connected”
with the injury Dos Santos picked up in the Cup match against Alcoyano.
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Dos Santos’s season
Since making his debut with the FC Barcelona first team Giovani Dos Santos has played in a total of
28 League matches in which he scored three goals, all against Murcia at the weekend, five Champions
League games in which he scored against Stuttgart in the Camp Nou, and five Spanish Cup fixtures.