Arriving from Club Brugge for £13.5m following Brighton & Hove Albion’s promotion back to the Premier League, José Izquierdo quickly became a fan favourite at the Amex Stadium.
Using his blistering pace up and down the wing, the Colombian eventually earned himself a spot in his country’s squad for the 2018 World Cup, where he unfortunately got injured.
Dismissing the knee pain as a simple knock, the player continued training, but it quickly became apparent there was more to it, and a tear in his meniscus was diagnosed after the tournament.
Speaking to El Caracol in his home country, the forward explained all the steps he has undergone since that moment.
He first had to have an arthroscopy on his meniscus, which caused him to be out for 3-4 months, but when he returned, he unfortunately picked up another lesion in the same meniscus.
Not wanting to have another surgery, he looked for other options, even going to see a specialist in Spain, which led to him training just twice a week with Brighton and having to take anti-inflammatories on weekends to try and play.
He says that made life ‘difficult for him’, caused him a ‘lot of pain’.
In fact, he goes as far as describing it as a ‘viacrucís’, which translates as his ‘way of the cross’, a period of his life made up of one suffering after another.
In the end, there was no other option than for him to have another operation, which he underwent back on May 4th, and he has been recovering ever since.
The player never gave a return date during the interview, but made it clear he was doing everything in his power to return as soon as possible, all the while ensuring he would do so fully fit and with his knee issues behind him.
Already forcing the problem once, doing so again could be very serious for his future, and that’s something he made clear he wants to avoid.
When he does return, he will do so to a team playing a different football to the one he knew under Chris Hughton as they are now managed by Graham Potter.
He’s fully aware of that, as he said: “They’re playing a completely different football, practically from one extreme to the other, from being conservative to having the ball more and playing on the front foot. It’s a transition.
“There’s not been much time to get the players to adapt to this idea and they are learning every game. I’m really impressed as to how we’re going forward and I hope the wins come and an improvement in the league position”.
It’s fair to say Izquierdo is itching to get back on the pitch and looking forward to playing under a new manager where perhaps his skill and pace could be used to better effect than they were under Chris Hughton.
Since signing, the 27-year-old has made 47 league appearances, scored five goals and assisted teammates six times.
