According to the latest report by Javier Miguel, a reporter following Barcelona for "AS", De Jong has three weeks to decide whether surgery is needed. If the initial treatment is successful and surgery is not required, he will be out for three months. If surgery is needed, he will be out for six months.
According to reports, De Jong will have three weeks to assess the recovery of his knee. During this period, he will undergo growth factor treatment – using platelet-rich plasma from his own blood – to stabilize and regenerate the damaged tissue of his medial collateral ligament in his right knee.
If the treatment is successful, De Jong will not need surgery, and his recovery time will be shortened to about 3 months. However, if the treatment ultimately fails, he will have to undergo surgery, and his return to the field will be extended to 6 months.
Currently, both sides have conflicting emotions. The player is optimistic that he can overcome this setback without surgery, while the club believes that surgery is the only guarantee for complete recovery from a ligament tear. Doctors have reminded him that two recent players jeopardized their careers by refusing surgery.
Both Fati and Umtiti have suffered from injuries and relapses because they did not undergo surgery for their knee injuries. However, De Jong did not flatly refuse surgery like these two players; he merely asked for a reasonable amount of time to observe the recovery of his injury.
The club continues to strongly support surgical treatment, especially since surgery can almost completely guarantee the recovery of the damaged ligament, while conservative treatment may lead to future relapses and even partial instability of the affected knee.
Therefore, we must wait until the end of August to finally determine the treatment plan the Dutch player will choose to overcome his serious knee injury. The club has informed Flick that De Jong will not be able to return until at least November, and that is under the most optimistic circumstances.
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