Six months, or six weeks
Surgery would have cost Tochukwu Nnadi most of the season. He has decided not to have it.
The 23-year-old Nigerian midfielder hurt his right knee in Marseille’s defeat at Monaco. The damage is serious, possibly a torn ACL. Standard treatment for that is an operation followed by a long, dull stretch of rehab. La Provence report that Nnadi, after conversations with his inner circle and OM’s medical staff, went another way entirely.
His agent Timur Daguev confirmed it. “A lot of people told him to have the operation straight away. It was probably the safest option, but it also meant being away from the pitch and the squad for several months. We made a different decision.”
The target is a return straight after the next international break.
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Nobody in the camp is pretending this is safe
The striking part is the honesty about what could go wrong. “We are aware of the risks. We know it won’t be easy. But this is Nnadi’s decision,” Daguev said.
The player had a line for the Velodrome too. “If I can step onto the pitch, I will give 200%. I will fight for every ball, every yard, every minute.”
Conservative treatment on a knee like this is uncommon at elite level. Some players get away with it. Others spend the following year managing pain and an instability that never fully settles.
A midfield already running short
Nnadi arrived last winter from Zulte Waregem and had marked this season as his step up, particularly once Quinten Timber left for Crystal Palace. Daguev does not hide that the timing weighed on the call. “He can’t walk away from the club at a time like this.”
Marseille face three competitions with a midfield already thinned by injuries and a European list packed with young names. Getting Nnadi back in October rather than March reshapes the whole rotation.
Knees, unfortunately, do not read fixture lists.
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