Jump to content

Pato's Career Done?


Mame Biram Diouf

Recommended Posts

124391711_extra_large.jpg

AC Milan's Brazilian striker Alexandre Pato is out for the rest of the season, with club doctor Jean-Pierre Meerssman unsure where to turn to next.

The 22-year-old has suffered a staggering 14 injuries in the past two years, restricting him to just 11 league games this season, in which he has scored a solitary goal.

He made an aborted attempted comeback in Tuesday night's UEFA Champions League defeat toBarcelona,spacer.gif joining the action from the bench after 70 minutes before being replaced himself just 13 minutes later.]The injuries have been principally to the player's thigh muscles, but also include ankle and groin problems and Meerssman has ruled out a short-term fix.

"Ten days, or 20 or 30 does little to change where we are now," Meerssman toldGazzetta dello sport

"And when he has recovered we'll be back to square one again. Patospacer.gif was declared clinically recovered 13 times but he's obviously not cured."

Milan have tried hard to find a solution but the club has been thwarted at every turn.

Meerssman added: "He's been all over the place from Germany to the United States, lots of doctors and therapists have examined and treated him, I don't know who to turn to next."

Pato was close to a move to Paris Saint Germainspacer.gif in the January transfer window but the move was blocked by owner Silvio Berlusconi.

Should've just sold him to PSG in Jan

Honestly cannot see him recovering and playing a full season

f*cked because he is only 23 in September

Such a waste of talent

Yet again another Brazillian prospect not fufilled

How good do you think he could have become?

Surely he is destined for a loan to a Brazilian club and to fade in the distance

Link to comment
Share on other sites

the best part of the last couple of years, with a few notable exceptions (like last year's Napoli game), he's been playing average/crap whenever he is on the field.

In addition to that, this season, he is literally injured 90% of the time, he gets back from injury, plays 10 mins then gets injured again like it happened last night (not his fault, but it fuels the fans frustrations).

Some voices also say he's not the most professional player around, lack of work ethic, lifestyle is a priority not football etc.

This is why, as crazy/mental as Tevez is, it was a no-brainer for most Milan fans to get Tevez in January, even if it meant Pato gone.

With Cassano returning and El Shaarawy affirming himself, it's increasingly likely he will be sold this summer, unless Berlusconi vetoes it. Galliani already sold him in January.

Pato also has too much off-field drama...his first wife turned out to be a gold digger (not his fault) and took most of his money. Now he's fooling around with Berlusconi's daughter.

He'll be at PSG in the summer.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

such a shame

i've followed him quite closely ever since he signed for AC Milan, thought he was gonna take over the world after his debut :(

in some respect he's had the WORST luck with injuries EVER. coupled that with AC Milan carrying an ageing squad for the best part of 10 years, they always (imo) rushed him back after injury a tad too hastily, just because they had no-one else of his quality to bring on

yesterdays game against Barca being a prime example, he should have been nowhere near the subs bench for that game, it was a ludicrous decision to have him there, let alone play

i swear the last time he kicked a ball before that game was when he scored the winner against Navaro? and when was that? January this year? SMFH

its like a mirror image of what happened to Hargo when SAF played him in that game against Wolves, baffling stuff.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Sports Room dons schooled me on him back in the day.

Who was it that had the shoulder juggling avi?

Think that was Murks avi

/

Swear Milan burnt him out in the early years of his career.

Just checking his appearance stats on espn which include CL

07/08 - 15 starts

08/09 - 27 starts

09/10 - 31 starts

10/11 - 24 starts

Guy is f*ck*ng 22 ffs

Link to comment
Share on other sites

the best part of the last couple of years, with a few notable exceptions (like last year's Napoli game), he's been playing average/crap whenever he is on the field

It's hard to build up good form when your're constantly injured. RVP is a prime example of what can happen when you get a long run of games

Sick sick player just too injury prone

Link to comment
Share on other sites

From football italia

Caring for Pato

As Alexandre Pato suffers yet another muscle injury this week, David Swan offers one explanation for the player’s recurring nightmare.

pato-injured490ai.jpg

“Milan communicates that today Alexandre Pato underwent an MRI scan. The examination has shown an injury, between grade one and grade two, to the biceps femoris muscle of the left leg.”

It is a statement so frequently posted on Milan's official website that all they need do is copy and paste the last one, and change the minor details such as the leg affected.

How frequently is it posted? La Gazzetta dello Sport reckon Pato's injury against Barcelona was his 14th since January 2010, although only half of them were identified as hamstring injuries, with another two simply labelled as muscle strains in his right and left leg respectively.

Although La Gazzetta use January 2010 as a cut-off, Pato had suffered hamstring injuries before this point, yet more than two years later, now approaching three, the club are no closer to solving the problem.

In December 2010 they sent Pato to the USA to seek opinion from Dr William Garrett, a specialist in orthopaedics at Duke University. He conducted a variety of gait analyses using video and force plates, and concluded the problem was postural - Pato's running style means he leans too far forward during sprints, creating a muscle imbalance that loads the hamstrings.

Former sprinter Stefano Tilli also believes Pato’s issues stem from posture, although he identified a problem in the lower half of the body in Thursday’s Gazzetta: “When the foot leaves the ground, the pelvis is too far forward, and the foot is parallel to the floor, instead of at a 90 degree angle to the rest of the leg. It places too much pressure on the hamstrings.”

Either MilanLab were not listening to Garrett’s opinions or they ignored his advice altogether, because the problems have not subsided. They may even think that Garrett is wrong, and certainly the change in direction this year seems to suggest MilanLab believe there is a different cause for the injuries.

From an orthopaedic specialist in 2010, Milan - under the guidance of Jean-Pierre Meersseman - took him to a chiropractic neurologist, Dr Frederick Carrick, only last week. After assessing Pato’s brain activity, he amusingly gave him a clean bill of health on the Friday, only to see the Brazilian injured the following Tuesday.

What has flown under the radar throughout this two-and-a-half year period, and indeed Carlo Ancelotti’s final season where injuries were also rife, is the constant changing of staff at MilanLab.

The last four seasons have seen four different individuals as director of medicine at the club – Massimiliano Sala in 2008-09, Massimo Manara in 2009-10, Gianluca Melegati in 2010-11 and now Rodolfo Tavana, who took over last May, and was previously at the club from 1987-2003. Each has brought one or two of their own doctors with them, and as is the way in medicine, each has their own specialty and ideas for injury prevention and management.

This position belonged to Meersseman before the flurry of changes, but he has taken an increasingly marginal role since 2008 at his own request. He was credited as one of the driving forces behind the MilanLab set-up, and the fact that each of the four seasons since he vacated the post has seen the squad decimated by injuries augments his reputation.

It is telling that the club turned to him to solve Pato’s problems, and it also explains the massive difference in approach from 2010 to now. Melegati, an expert in rehabilitation and injury prevention, took Pato to an orthopaedic specialist, Meersseman, a chiropractor, took him to see a colleague in his same field.

Both approaches have failed, though given the decent injury record during his time at the club, you would fancy Meersseman to get to the bottom of it. He had a sly dig at the length of time he had been given when speaking of Pato’s latest setback: “I have not solved something in three weeks that has not been resolved in two years.” Perhaps he should have focused on the real problem hurting the No 7 right now, the continuity of care, or lack thereof.

Apparently he would be quicker if he adopted a more 'normal' running style, if bolt ran the way pato does he would run 100m in 11 seconds instead of 9' 58

  • Upvote 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 8 months later...

good move

 

brazilian serie a > itallian one

 

helps his national team chances too

  • Upvote 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...