Munich (Germany) (AFP)
Bad luck!
Corentin Tolisso, who did not start at Bayern and was working hard to return to his best level, suffered a serious injury in training, losing almost all his chances of playing the Euro with the France team (June 11 - 11 July).
"We were all shocked. It's a serious muscle injury (...) We are counting at least on an absence of three months", announced Friday at a press conference his coach Hansi Flick.
The 26-year-old world champion underwent surgery on Friday morning for a torn tendon in his left thigh.
While there was no warning sign for the accident, according to Flick, the midfielder collapsed with a cry of pain while shooting on goal on Thursday in training.
In great pain, he was evacuated on a golf cart.
“It really hurt for him,” Flick recounted, “I'm more than convinced of him, he just needs some rhythm. We'll be supporting him for the weeks and months to come to get him back to his best level ".
- Transfer rumors -
Despite these encouraging remarks, Flick had relegated Tolisso to the bench most of the time this season, and the German press has long been buzzing with rumors about a possible transfer of the Frenchman at the end of the season.
Asked about the chances of selling an injured player at a good price, Flick dodged: "FC Bayern has always shown in its history that, in these kinds of circumstances, they support their players. It is part of Bayern's values and it does. will always be so ".
Arrived from Lyon in 2017, this gifted and hardworking boy was nevertheless the bearer of immense hopes.
His transfer, worth 41.5 million euros, was at the time the most expensive in the history of Bayern (the record has since been broken by Lucas Hernandez, 80 million).
After a first season of adaptation, he won the title of world champion with the Blues, raising even more expectations in Bavaria.
But injuries prevented the expected blossoming: in 2018-2019, he first missed a large part of the season, from September to March, due to a rupture of the cruciate ligaments.
On his return, he found himself replacing.
- Preached and sanctioned -
Last season, ankle surgery took him away from the pitches from April to June, just the time when Bayern sealed their league-cup double.
And in the Final-8 of the Champions League in Lisbon, which crowned Bayern king of Europe, he played no role, entering each time only in the very last minutes (18 minutes of play in three matches ).
This season, he had already missed six games for two different muscle injuries.
And there was still a second choice for Hansi Flick, who has only started him seven times in 22 Bundesliga matches.
In the immutable 4-3-3 of the "Rekordmeister", Thomas Müller and Joshua Kimmich are unwavering in midfield.
And the holder for third place is for the moment the German international Leon Goretzka.
Should this be seen as a reflection of his discomfort at Bayern?
Tolisso had just been harshly lectured and financially sanctioned by the club at the end of January for violating the anti-Covid protocol by getting a tattoo.
© 2021 AFP