Gerard Deulofeu is hopeful he will be able to start running again soon
Gerard Deulofeu celebrates scoring his team's third goal during the Barclays Premier League match between Everton and Stoke City. Photo by Clive Brunskill/Getty Images
Gerard Deulofeu celebrates scoring his team's third goal during the Barclays Premier League match between Everton and Stoke City. Photo by Clive Brunskill/Getty Images
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Gerard Deulofeu believes is on the cusp of a major breakthrough in his long battle against the injury that threatens to end his career.
The 31-year-old has not played a game in more than three years due to issues with his right knee. They started with an anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury but developed in severity through an infection that has eaten away at his cartilage.
The former Everton winger has refused to give up on his dream of playing competitive football in front of his children again and is hopeful he is about to return to running, a step forward that would represent significant progress.
"I am so happy because I feel the leg is really strong,” he told BBC Sport in his latest interview about his hellish journey. “The more muscle you get, the less pain you have inside the knee, so now I feel that, yes, my knee is prepared to run. I am feeling that I am close. If we speak about muscle, I am in the same levels of the available guys now. But let's see how they respond, with no cartilage and no meniscus."
Deulofeu last featured in January 2023, when he came off the bench for Udinese against Sampdoria. He lasted just 15 minutes as it quickly became clear he had not fully recovered from a knee injury suffered against Napoli the previous November, before Serie A had broken up for the World Cup.
Deulofeu had previously recovered from ACL damage, missing eight months while at Watford in 2020. But the infection made this fight more challenging. His attempt to overcome it started with cell treatment designed to rebuild the cartilage but he tried to return to running too soon.
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He said: "My knee needed to heal. To train hard, first you have to heal." Two years on from that setback, and after six months of building muscle in the gym, he is hoping he is now ready following a programme of three to four hours of training every day, five days a week at at Udinese's Stadio Friuli. His contract was terminated by mutual consent in January of last year but the club allows him to access the facilities and call on the expertise of club fitness staff.
It has been a tough 37 months for Deulofeu, who had two spells with the Blues, the first on loan, making 75 appearances and scoring eight goals. He remains a popular figure with supporters and featured in one of the big screen messages on the day of Goodison Park’s final Premier League fixture as Everton defeated Southampton 2-0 on May 18.
But the winger, who won the Europa League with another former club, Sevilla, remains driven by his three children, who he would love to play in front of again. In a previous interview he said: “They were born knowing that I am a player, and now that they are a bit older, they are asking me to come back, and that breaks my heart."
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