Medical: Milito could undergo new surgery

Catalans sports paper Sport claims that Barcelona player Gabriel Milito (28) could have to undergo a new minor surgery because his knee is still troubling him. If that’s the case, this would mean that Milito won’t reappear this season.

Barcelona’s medical and technical staff want the player to be fully fit and this will most probable only happen next season. Barcelona manager Joseph Guardiola has told Milito that he counts on him for the 2009-2010 season and hopes that he will be totally recovered at the start of the next season. If the Argentinian wouldn’t be ready, Barcelona will consider the signing of a new central defender.

Barcelona doctor Ramón Cugat nevertheless said in an interview with Catalan radio station Catalunya Ràdio earlier this week that Milito could return to the game this season: "I’m optimistic and we hope that god will listen to us and that we will be able to see Milito participating in a game this season. His recovery is going well so when the league is decided before the end, we could see him play for some minutes. We have to be patient anyhow. His knee is doing very fine but we went step by step because we didn’t want to overload the player."

Milito suffered a right knee injury on 29 April 2008 during the second game of the Champions League semi-finals against Manchester United last season. The predicted recovery time was then being estimated between six and nine months.

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