Daniel Arzani has touched on the difficulties he’s had during his ACL recovery.
It’s been a more hectic last seven or eight months for Arzani than we all maybe first believed. The left-winger was injured in his Celtic debut at Dens Park, and it ruled him out for the rest of the season. That match was all the way back on Halloween – it’s been a long road for him since.
Arzani also spoke about how dangerous an ACL injury was in the past. Fortunately for the Aussie, however, he had the best physios money could buy on the case.
Speaking in the Daily Record, the winger briefly touched on the hellish nature of the recovery.
“Speaking to the physios here, ACL injuries used to be career-threatening. It’s a lot more straight forward now. You’re out for the rest of the season or longer considering when you do it but it’s definitely not as bad as it once was.
“The rehab has been really tough. There are a lot of moments while you are doing your rehab when you are like, ‘Oh my God, I can’t do this anymore.
“But for me it was an image of warming up before the game, going out on the field, that feeling. That’s what I would always remind myself of. It was a huge setback. But I had my head in the right space afterwards and I’m feeling good now”
Time to make your mark Daniel
You get the feeling we’re about to see something special from Arzani this season. Almost as if it’s a case of making up for the lost time. It’s also difficult to erase the opening 23 minutes of his Celtic career too. Against Dundee, he managed to breeze past Cammy Kerr on several occasions, with his quick feet providing some real promise before his setback.
If that’s what we’ve got to look forward to upon his return, then we’ll be in a seriously good place when he comes back. Unfortunately, Arzani is out for the first leg of the Champions League qualifier against Sarajevo in three weeks. He’s instead targeting a return for the return leg in Bosnia (Celtic TV).
What Arzani will hopefully provide is solid competition for Scott Sinclair. Jonny Hayes has been trying his best down the left, but has never managed to prove consistently good enough to topple Sinclair. Right now, the Englishman needs someone to force him to bring out his A-game once again. Hopefully, that man is Arzani.
He’ll be all the keener considering the long rehabilitation process he had from his ACL injury too. How much of an effect it will have left on him remains to be seen.
It’s all up in the air regarding Arzani’s ability and what he can offer Celtic. But those questions look set to be answered when he returns for the second leg against Sarajevo.
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