River lights candles for Nicolás De La Cruz’s recovery: when could he return?

After overcoming a long absence of more than 4 months without playing for the River and about 90 days without doing it officially, after playing the World Cup in Qatar with the Uruguayan national team, Nicholas DeLa Cruz He seemed to have finally recovered from his right knee problems and was gradually starting to be the engine of midfield in Martín Demichelis’ side. However, synovitis forced him to slow down.

The Uruguayan lives with a situation very similar to that of Matías Suárez, as he suffers from the same injury, which has prevented him from continuing to play after four appearances, against Arsenal, Lanús, Racing de Córdoba and Godoy Cruz. And so once again he had to take up differentiated jobs, something that had already happened to him in the preseason in the United States after undergoing stem cell treatments in the area after the World Cup in Qatar, with the intention of leaving the pain behind .

The 25-year-old midfielder made his debut in the Demichelis era against Arsenal, a match in which he played the last 29 minutes at the Monumental. Then, he added 25′ against Racing de Córdoba for the Argentine Cup and started against Lanús (played 79′) and Godoy Cruz (65′), but after that series, last Wednesday he had a relapse which forced him to undergo a medical examination and physiokinetic treatment for 10 or 12 days, according to River’s medical staff.

In this context, De La Cruz was unable to join the Uruguayan team to play the friendlies against Japan (24/3) and South Korea (28/3) in Tokyo and Seoul respectively, and will take advantage of the break for the FIFA appointment at the continue your recovery and thus trying to be able to return to the next round of the Lega Professionisti against Uniónmatch that will be played on Friday March 31 at the Monumental, or get ready for the start of the Copa Libertadores, the first week of April.

For now, De La Cruz will continue to train differently while his team-mates prepare for the friendly match in Salta against the University of Chile, which will be played on Saturday evening. The idea of ​​the coaching staff is not to rush his return beyond having lost a player who joined the team in order not to leave and that in the factory they don’t have another one that can provide the same characteristics.

“Nico is different, he’s one of the best players in Argentine football. Being healthy gives us an advantage. He has dynamism, many changes of pace, intelligence,” said Demichelis of the Uruguayan. being able to replace him He is anxiously awaiting the return of the dark-haired midfielder because, as he himself said, he gives an edge to the team’s game, not only by creating him but also by recovering the ball.