A Look at Roma’s Recent Injury Crisis

The best part of this international break? Recovery time for Roma’s bruised and battered. The injury list is so long that I honestly forgot multiple players my first time through writing this. So here we go, my best attempt. I am sure I forgot someone, or that someone just now tore their ACL during training, so feel free to add more updates in the comments.

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• Antonio Rudiger: Toni recently featured in three matches over a seven day stretch, all of this coming less than six months after tearing his ACL. He has looked solid in these limited minutes, part of that due to the fact that if he wasn’t out there, the next best option at RB/CB would be a player who the team won’t even bring in on a pay-as-you-play contract. All in all, it’s great that Toni has returned to the squad and that he will have another two weeks to continue his march back to 100% match fitness.
• Mario Rui: Speaking of ACL recoveries, Mario Rui has been training on his own at Trigoria and will begin working with the Primavera this week. The assumption was that he should be back in the squad after the Christmas break, but his return could come before then.
• Kostas Manolas: The Greek had individual work earlier this week in training, still recovering from his nose surgery. The hope is that he will rejoin the group early next week and be ready for the fixture against Atalanta on November 20th.
• Federico Fazio: Fazio was training alone on Saturday, but played the entire 90 minutes against Bologna on Sunday. He is still being observed for an issue with his right calf.
• Emerson Palmeri: The LB has missed the past few matches with a calf injury. He is expected to be back before the Atalanta fixture.
• Bruno Peres: Played 77 minutes on Sunday but is still being monitored for his hamstring problem.
• Moustapha Seck: Still recovering from a sprained left ankle. Trained outside of the group with SES on Monday but will be ready to go by the Atalanta fixture.
• Abdullahi Nura: Another of the ACLRoma gang, Nura is back in training and should be getting minutes with the Primavera very soon. Blah blah blah, same stuff as the last ten defenders I listed...
• Alessandro Florenzi: In recovery mode from his ACL surgery that took place last week. The goal is for him to be back in training three months from now, most likely sometime around early February/March.
• Thomas Vermaelen: Yes, he does indeed exist. Will he ever play for Roma again? Who the heck knows.

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(And beyond the defense):

• Kevin Strootman: Part of his lack of NT call-up may be attributed to him being banned due to yellow card accumulation. The other part the back problem that sidelined him a few weeks ago. Two weeks off should help him get back to full health.
• Radja Nainggolan: Radja featured over the weekend, but was not 100% healthy or in great form in late October when Roberto Martinez began assembling his Belgium squad. A nice break to completely recover and train (and a tactical adjustment coughSpalletticough) may be just what the doctor ordered to get Ninja back to his old self.
• Leandro Paredes: The young Argentine picked up an apparent knee injury during the EL match on Thursday. He trained alone leading up to a substitute appearance on Sunday, where he then picked up an ankle injury. Latest update has him missing two weeks and the Atalanta match. Oh Roma...
• Stephan El Shaarawy: Still suffering from a minor knock and trained with Seck away from the group on Monday. Expected to be 100% by the end of the break.
• Francesco Totti: Hamstring injury. Expected to be back for the Atalanta match. Mi manchi.

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One final note, Sunday’s match was the first time since week 1 where Bogdan Lobont wasn’t named to the bench. If ManCat is injured as well, I give up...