Despite suffering yet another injury, Zlatan Ibrahimovic's soccer career is not over yet. The Swedish striker, after winning the Scudetto with AC Milan on Sunday, underwent the surgery he announced he needed after the team's final match against Sassuolo. An official statement issued by the club confirmed that the injury will keep Ibrahimovic out of the pitch for seven to eight months. It's not clear how this might change the striker's future plans, considering that his current contract with Milan will expire in one month. It's likely that he'll meet with the club soon to decide what the future holds, but as things stand, Ibrahimovic intends to keep playing, either in Milan or elsewhere.
AC Milan issued the following statement on their official website:
"AC Milan announces that Zlatan Ibrahimović underwent an operation on his left knee carried out by Dr Bertrand Sonnery-Cottet, with the Club's Medical Director Stefano Mazzoni in attendance, at the Hôpital Jean Mermoz in Lyon. The arthroscopy had been planned for a while to definitively resolve the joint's instability through the reconstruction of the anterior cruciate ligament, with lateral reinforcement and meniscus reparation. The operation was a complete success and the prognosis is estimated between 7 and 8 months."
This is not the first time that Ibrahimovic has faced the prospect of a possible career ending injury. Near the end of the 2016-17 season with Manchester United, Ibrahimovic injured his right knee, sustaining serious ligament damage. The injury kept him out until the following November. Eventually he returned for United, before moving to the LA Galaxy in MLS. It was with the Galaxy that he played himself back into peak shape before returning to AC Milan for the 2020/21 season.
