Paris Saint-Germain will have to finish their domestic and international seasons without the help of star forward Neymar, who is set to undergo surgery to address the possibility of prolonged ankle instability in his right ankle.
Neymar has not played for PSG since being stretchered off in the team’s 4-3 win over Lille on February 19. He suffered a significant ankle sprain during that contest, and the team announced in a statement that the medical staff recommended a corrective procedure to address both the short- and long-term potential issues caused by the injury.
“Following his last sprain contracted on Feb. 20, the medical staff … recommended a ligament repair operation to avoid a major risk of recurrence. All the experts consulted have confirmed this necessity.
Preventing Long Term Instability Is Important
The team statement also mentioned that Neymar had already been experiencing instability in his right ankle for years. And while the latest injury only further damaged the supportive ligaments in his ankle, the injury may end up being a blessing in disguise if the surgery can address the ligament damage and strengthen them so that he no longer has ankle instability going forward.
Anybody who has watched Neymar knows that his quickness and dribbling skills oftentimes force defenders to foul him as a last resort, and oftentimes that means sliding or tackling at his legs. In fact, a recent analysis of match data found that Neymar was far and away the player who gets fouled the most. In tracking data from Europe’s five largest soccer leagues, researchers found that Neymar had been fouled 1,040 times in all competitions since 2016. Coming in second was teammate Lionel Messi, who had been fouled 839 times in that same stretch. That means that Neymar was getting fouled roughly 25 percent more than the player who received the second most tackles over the last seven years, which is insane. No wonder his ankle ligaments are a mess!
The good news is that Neymar is only 31 years old, and there’s no reason to think that the surgery and his recovery will have any major issues. Although it will be 3-4 months until he can return to training, there’s no reason to think that he will carry this injury into next year for his club or country. In fact, with the right training regimen, his ankle will likely be much stronger than it was the next time he steps on the pitch, so odds are more fouls will be coming his way when he makes a defender miss. We wish Neymar a successful operation and recovery.
If you’re dealing with ankle instability or are frequently rolling your ankle because it feels unstable, consider reaching out to Dr. Silverman and the team at Silverman Ankle & Foot today at (952) 224-2277.
