Leonardo Spinazzola will undergo tests in Finland today, hoping to return to action before the end of the season.

In July, the Italy international sustained an Achilles tendon injury during Italy’s Euro 2020 quarter-finals against Belgium. He underwent surgery at a specialistic clinic in Finland, beginning a lengthy rehab a few days later.

Italy doctor Andrea Ferretti has claimed that the defender will likely return to action in 2022-23, but according to La Gazzetta dello Sport there’s a slight chance to see ‘Spina’ back on the pitch in the last few games of the campaign.

The 29-year-old will undergo medical examinations in Finland today and tomorrow and hopes to receive the green light to return to action before the end of the season. He thought he’d return to the pitch in November and Roma even included him in their UEFA list for the end of August. However, the recovery has been long, as expected by professor Lempainen who performed the surgery in the summer.

“I’d like to know who was the phenomenon who decided in August that he’d return in November. A crazy person who decided to write or a crazy person who said what to write,” José Mourinho said in January.

“Did he say it? So, he’s crazy as well. He is a super optimist. Perhaps somebody wanted to motivate him, but it was in the wrong way. It’s a very hard injury, it’s impossible to recover in a short time. From the very first day I arrived here, I thought: ‘This season, I won’t have Spinazzola.”

Spinazzola has been partially training with the group over the last few weeks: “The smile is back on his face. He is doing some small things with us and he is working well with the staff,” Mourinho said earlier in March. “He can’t play immediately, but he is an athlete again.”

2 thought on “Mourinho’s Roma and Italy waiting for Spinazzola: when will he return?”
  1. Please don’t rush back. He’s an exceptional player and he has had the time to recover. I’ll be happy to see him return next season and just sit this one out. I wouldn’t risk him but at the end of the day, it’s up to him and his doctors. Next season will feel like a new transfer for us. Forza Roma!

  2. You know, this reminds me of 5 years ago when everyone started getting ridiculous about the recovery time from torn ACL injuries and thinking that players could return to full strength after only 4 months. Then, inevitably when the team pushed the player back too early because of pressure from naive fans and press that player would suffer severe setbacks because a torn ACL requires a minimum of a full year of rehab.

    Now, this is even more ridiculous about a torn Achilles. This injury requires a full 2 years of recovery and even then most players never return to their prior performances and for many players it is a career ending injury. If Roma or Italy attempt to play Spinazzola in a game this spring or summer then you can kiss his career goodbye.

    Stop the nonsense. Educate yourselves on rehab and recovery and don’t push teams to play injured players. Just stop it.

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