Mikel Merino is very difficult to play in the remainder of the season, he suffers a fracture in a vertebra and the club almost ruled out that he could participate in any of the eight games that remain in the league. But the Navarrese player himself is convinced that he can recover in time, because He suffered this same injury when he was playing for Newcastle and was playing again in just three weeks. In addition, in his environment they ensure that he does not throw in the towel, in fact, they refuse to assume that he has already said goodbye to the season. This is how his father, former player Miguel Merino, explains it on Cadena SER.
How do you see your child's injury?
We see it as a setback. It is a complicated injury, but nothing more. Recently an athlete from Navarra, a 10,000th champion, who just before the Spanish Championship, four weeks earlier, fractured a vertebra and everyone thought she was already losing the championship. but based on recovery, she managed to reach the championship and be champion. We see him normally, because he knows what he is exposed to. We know that the back of a professional athlete is not the same as a normal personal one. And the deadlines are going to be set by him, so we are relatively concerned, because we know that it is a recoverable injury in a shorter period of time than some information is given.
They give up the season for Mikel?
No not at all. It is that certain assessments must be done with great care. Because Mikel is playing a lot with Real, because he wants to reach Europe, and then there is a European Championship in which he has high hopes, and to give some information about his long absence, I think it does not correspond to reality, because he is the player the one that will mark the deadlines for your recovery. Not all injuries have the same deadlines depending on which person, and in this case you have to be quite cautious. The diagnosis is clear, but the recovery time will be marked by the sensation of pain that he has. If it prevents him from touching the ball when he passes, then he will have to stop.
What does Mikel transmit to you? Because we know that he wants to try to play …
The same. That he has that injury, but that he is going to try to make our deadlines very long, and every time he has been resting he has felt much better, and that the sensations are very good when he does core work that strengthens the area. And that little by little it is improving, the sensation of pain is better than the day of the final and the day of Barça. And that fissure improves as time goes by, and with the help of strengthening the back and with its muscular structure, and doing postural work, it will be at full capacity shortly. He is calm, because he knows what there is, and because he will be the one who sets the deadlines.
I imagine it will help him to recover from the fact that he already suffered this injury when he was at Newcastle …
Yeah right. In fact, in three weeks he was back at full capacity, and you can see the performance he has given, which had to be another similar injury to have the same pain sensations. The previous one is already totally forgotten. In that sense we are optimistic, because he has already seen from his own experience that he can recover in three weeks and give a very high performance without problems.
Do you already play the final with the fracture of the vertebra?
Yes Yes. The day of Barcelona ended with bad feelings, but it was not known that it was a fissure, and we believe that he played the final already injured, yes.
By the way, reassure the Real fans a bit. In summer there will be nothing with other teams, right?
You never know what the future may hold, but the first thing for Mikel is the Real one. But what happens you cannot control, such as the fact that teams are interested in it and pay the clause. We do not know. But he is delighted at La Real and he only thinks about that.