Too early to talk about Osimhen recovery time – Napoli surgeon says

Napoli surgeon Gianpaolo Tartaro revealed Victor Osimhen’s procedure was ‘perfectly successful’, but stated that it is too early to discuss his recovery time.

Following a surgery on Tuesday, Osimhen will be sidelined for up to three months. The 22-year-old suffered multiple facial fractures in a clash of heads during Napoli’s 3-2 defeat by Inter Milan on Sunday.

“On Tuesday morning, Victor Osimhen was operated on his cheekbone and eye socket by Gianpaolo Tartaro, who was assisted by Dr Mario Santagata with Dr Raffaele Canonico also present,” Napoli said in a statement.

Tartaro, the surgeon, has now claimed it is too early to assess when the star forward would return to the field.

“Osimhen’s injury was not a simple cheekbone fracture but also affected several bones of the face,” the surgeon told 1 Station Radio as per Get Italian Football News.

“It was not a shock trauma, but compression: the kinetic force generated by the crushing of Osimhen’s face against Skriniar created devastating damage.

“It is still too early to talk about recovery times because the surgery was really complex: the conditions of the player’s face were very bad, but I guarantee that the surgery was perfectly successful.”

Osimhen’s absence will be a big blow for Nigeria and also Napoli, who are currently top of the Italian Serie A.

He is Napoli’s leading goalscorer this season, with nine goals in 14 appearances.

Osimhen netted four times in six games to help Nigeria reach Africa’s World Cup play-offs. He also finished as joint-top scorer in qualifying for the delayed Nations Cup, with five goals.