Kaizer Chiefs forward Samir Nurkovic chats about his struggles with injury having being forced to undergo surgery at the beginning of the season.
The 29-year-old Serbian first joined Chiefs three seasons ago from Slovak side KFC Komarno, but in recent times has seen his form drop which he attributes to an injury that he suffered in the club’s CAF Champions League run last season, where they lost in the final against Al Ahly.
“The injury actually happened at the end of last season; we were playing [CAF] Champions League second leg against Wydad Casablanca. I consulted with the doctors and the physios and we decided to keep going with some treatment so to leave surgery as a last option,” Nurkovic told the club’s media department.
“As you saw, that wasn’t my best game that I was playing after that. I was struggling on the field with an injury then after five games, we decided that we have to do surgery,” he added.
Nurkovic further explained he was playing at around 70% capacity due to being hampered by the injury which proved to be more serious than at first thought.
“We knew in the beginning after that game, we did all the MRI [scans] I was in the hospital for all the screening, and they found out that there was a tear in my lateral meniscus, and you can play with that – but you cannot play on 100%,” said Nurkovic.
“I was maybe at 70% and I wasn’t able to give the best Samir Nurkovic to the team on the field and to help them the way I can.”
The good news for Nurkovic is that he could be back in action again soon as the knee is improving all the time.
“I was on crutches for three weeks, just yesterday I stopped using them, so I already started with cycling and the knee is getting better and better every day,” he added.
