Blow for Manchester United as summer target Strootman suffers surgery complication

23 February 2015 02:21

Manchester United manager Louis van Gaal has today been dealt a blow as top summer target and midfield tough man Kevin Strootman is reportedly facing complications after his latest round of knee surgery.

The Netherlands international was set to take up an integral role in Louis van Gaal's 2014 World Cup team but suffered a serious knee injury in March of last year, leaving him sidelined for club and country until November. The 25-year-old sustained further damage to his ACL (anterior cruciate ligament) in January 2015 in a Serie A fixture for Roma against Fiorentina, with confirmation of further knee-surgery coming three days after the incident.

Van Gaal is a known admirer of Strootman and was heavily linked with a move for the midfielder at the start of his tenure as United boss. But comments today from AS Roma's former doctor Mario Brozzi has thrown any future pursuit of Strootman into doubt.

Speaking to La Pertita Perfetta, Brozzi claimed there was 'no way out' for Strootman, speculating on the players surgery, which he suggests 'didn't go perfectly'.

“My impression is that the surgery on Strootman's ligament did not go perfectly,” Brozzi has told La Partita Perfetta on Gold TV.

“I don't know what happened to his knee, but his Cyclops syndrome results from a problem in the ligament's position.

“The cartilaginous damage is determined by the extensive deficit.

“Now, if this is the situation, I see no way out.

“But it's not up to me to say whether further surgery is needed.

“When I was in Rome, the only surgery we performed outside Trigoria was for [former striker Vincenzo] Montella, who went to Switzerland.”

Strootman's operation was performed in Holland, a fact which Brozzi interpreted as a bad omen.

“When everybody starts going away, it means that nobody's going to be cured anymore.”

This latest blow will be a bitter pill for Strootman - with Brozzi suggesting he may never be completely fit - to swallow and may force van Gaal to seriously rethink not just his summer transfer plans, but his future plans for United in general, with Strootman throwing the managers long-term strategy into disarray for the second time in as many years.

Source: DSG