Monday, September 19, 2022 at 8:57 PM• Jonathan van Haaster • Last update: 21:01

Rick Karsdorp has successfully operated on his meniscus. The right back underwent surgery on his left knee in St. Moritz, Switzerland, where he was operated on by doctor Georg Ahlbaumer. Now that the operation is over, the Dutchman can focus on his rehabilitation process.

Karsdorp will take the first steps of his rehabilitation in the Swiss clinic. Afterwards, he will continue to focus on his recovery at the club’s training center, Trigoria. The 27-year-old former Feyenoord player tore his meniscus in the Europa League match against HJK Helsinki (3-0 victory). What was striking was that Karsdorp played the entire game in that game. It was only two days later that Roma announced that the defender had suffered a meniscus injury.

With this new injury, Karsdorp again suffered a severe blow after he tore his cruciate ligament at the end of 2017. The three-time the Dutch-international was then sidelined at Roma for more than seven months and had to watch the rest of the season. In the years that followed, he also struggled with a groin injury. The serious injury is a hard blow for Karsdorp, who is a fixed value under coach José Mourinho. The injury of the Dutchman is also very bad for Roma. His place on the right is for the time being taken over by the Turk Zeki Çelik.

With his meniscus injury, Karsdorp can also forget about the 2022 World Cup. Still, the chance seemed small that he would be included in the selection of national coach Louis van Gaal. Despite Karsdorp’s good last season with Roma – he played 51 games in which he provided seven assists – Van Gaal is not calling on the fullback. In May, Karsdorp was still in the provisional selection, but he did not receive an invitation for the Nations League matches. At the beginning of this calendar year, the defender gave in conversation with ESPN indicated that he no longer necessarily counts on an invitation from the Dutch. “I completely put that out of my mind.”