Napoli medic: 'Milik not mentally ready'

By Football Italia staff

Arkadiusz Milik “has been physically ready to return for some time, but I think it’s more a psychological issue now,” said the Napoli medic.

The Poland international suffered two devastating ACL tears in October 2016 and September 2017.

“Personally, I think he has been physically ready to return for some time, but it’s more a psychological issue now,” Napoli chief medic Alfonso De Nicola told Radio Punto Zero.

“The problem is, being physically ready does not necessarily mean you are ready morally and mentally. Milik had a rapid recovery from the first knee injury, but when he hurt the other knee, people started to say we had rushed him back. As a doctor, I can tell you that is not true.”

There was similar controversy around Faouzi Ghoulam, who was on the verge of returning from a torn anterior cruciate ligament when he fractured his kneecap.

“The specialists confirmed the second injury had nothing to do with the old surgery. We are open to criticism and new research, as it’s important to learn from mistakes, but we don’t believe there have been any in this case.”

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