Richarlison of Tottenham Hotspur has revealed to ESPN Brasil that he suffered from an injury for a considerable amount of time prior to undergoing surgery.
The 26-year-old had groin surgery at the beginning of November, which caused him to miss two Spurs games as well as two international matches for Brazil last month.
The Tottenham player disclosed that he first objected to having surgery in order to maintain his spot on the national team.
Since the previous season, I have been in pain. I’d been trying to treat it, but it wasn’t working. I had multiple procedures and injections in the area, but nothing worked to fix the issue,” he said.
Surgery was, of course, the last resort. I chose to have surgery since it didn’t work, and I was also considering the national team and the club.”
The forward’s remarks have been reported by UOL and O Dia, and both suggest that he first chose not to have surgery in order to play for Brazil in the World Cup last year.
The former Everton player wasn’t prepared to give in on this at the time. The attacker has also stated that he is now happy that he underwent the surgery.
“I didn’t want to give up on my teammates or the national team. I was also a little self-centered; I realized that there was a moment when I was obstructing my own path.
I made the right choice in having surgery, today I came back well. Now it’s time to continue and follow through.”
After the South American regained full fitness, Ange Postecoglou used him as a substitute in Tottenham’s draw against Manchester City and defeat to West Ham.
On Sunday, the coach handed him a start against Newcastle United and he responded by scoring a brace.
Afterwards, the player insisted he’s no longer struggling with pain.
“I’m much better than before. Now I feel confident, I feel 100%. I think this surgery helped me a lot to recover in training. Now I’m training without pain, and this is helping me a lot. It’s evolving every day now and thinking about the next game,” he added.
