Santiago Gimenez and the'difficult injury: "I could no longer run"

Santiago Gimenez, AC Milan striker, returned to play in the last league match against Torino after an operation on his right ankle that kept him away from the field almost five months. “The discomfort had been with me since before the Gold Cup,” the Rossoneri center forward told in an interview with TUDN microphones, “as a player you think it’s nothing and that you can go on, but after each game the pain was increasing more and more.”

“There came a point when it was really strong; I was a starter in Milan, the expectations were very high, and that’s when you start wondering whether to stop or continue,” the Mexican striker went on to explain. I tried to continue, taking medication to play, until I got to a point where I couldn’t even run anymore from the pain.”

“In that game against Atalanta (dating back to last October 28, ed.) I took a double dose of medication and that’s when I decided to stop. After tests and X-rays, the solution was to operate. With the World Cup in the summer, I evaluated every possibility, but together with my family I chose the operation: it was the best decision.”

“In the run-up to the World Cup, I think I have already said, many people in Mexico are concerned about the number of injuries in the national team. It’s never good to stop, but those who are injured are even more eager to come back to full strength and will come back stronger,” Gimenez concluded.

Who arrived at AC Milan for about 30 million euros in January 2025, Gimenez has never been able to establish himself as expected. The numbers don’t lie: 30 total appearances and 7 goals, including 5 in Serie A. A haul far from expectations, certainly lower than what he showed in his experience in the Netherlands, at PSV.