It’s been a while since Brighton & Hove Albion fans last managed to see José Izquierdo in action for the club.
The winger had a knee injury back in April 2019, and has been struggling to recover for over a year now.
Izquierdo was interviewed by Colombian outlet Gol Caracol today, and talked about how hard it’s been for him to be sidelined for so long.
“I’m fine, improving. It’s been a long and difficult process; but we believe that after so much we are very close to achieving the goal of being one hundred percent for the competition,” Izquierdo told Gol Caracol.
Now that he’s rejoined Brighton’s squad, he was asked about the reaction from the club’s medical department once they met him again.
“Better than they expected. The truth is that due to quarantine obviously I didn’t have the professionals, nor the adequate machines to recover from my injury there in Colombia. And they were very clear about it. But everything turned out very well and with what I had, I did a good base job to continue the recovery here in England.”
Quizzed about how he currently feels and if he has any set dates to return to playing, Izquierdo says he still can’t answer that.
“Truth is that for a long time I haven’t felt this good, it’s been a long time and for the same reason you have to take everything slowly since it’s necessary for the body to adapt to the competition little by little. Therefore, the truth is there’s no exact date. At the moment I’m doing some work with the team and the rest aside. Go step by step integrating myself with the team.”
Izquierdo joined Brighton in a €15m move from Club Brugge in 2017, and had already been struggling with knee injuries before his latest blow. That’s why he only has 53 appearances in these three years at the club.
