Zlatan Ibrahimovic 'stronger' after undergoing successful operation as Manchester United star begins recovery
The striker is expected to miss the rest of 2017
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Your support makes all the difference.Zlatan Ibrahimovic says he is "stronger" after undergoing a successful operation on his right knee to repair the damaged cruciate ligament that he suffered last month, with his agent insisting that the striker has not suffered a career-threatening injury.
Ibrahimovic is believed to have ruptured his cruciate ligament in his right knee during United’s Europa League victory over Anderlecht last month, although the club have not publically confirmed the extend of the injury, and he flew to the United States of America last week in order to undergo surgery.
His agent, Mino Raiola, released a statement late on Monday night to confirm that the operation has been carried out successfully, and also to reiterate that the Swede will not retire because of the serious injury, but is instead already targeting a return.
"Zlatan Ibrahimovic has undergone successful knee surgery. He will make a full recovery AND HAS NOT SUFFERED A CAREER-ENDING INJURY," Raiola said in a statement.
"The procedure was performed by Freddie Fu, M.D., and Volker Musahl, M.D., of the UPMC Sports Medicine program in Pittsburgh.
"Zlatan has started rehabilitation at UPMC and will remain under the care of Dr.Fu and Dr.Musahl throughout his recovery.
"Zlatan and the medical team are not available for interviews at this time. Additional updates will follow at a later date."
And Ibrahmovic himself added in a later Instagram post: "Fixed, done and stronger. Once again thank you for the support. We will enjoy my game together soon."
Ibrahimovic is not expected to return to action until January next year – when he will be 36 years old – and his United future remains in doubt given his contract expires at the end of this season.
He does have a one-year extension in his deal that United were keen to activate before the injury setback, although whether they remain as hopeful of keeping the former Paris Saint-Germain forward since he was ruled out for nine months is yet to be clarified.
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