Ibrahimovic Out For 8 Months Due To Knee Surgery, Will It Affect His Contract At AC Milan?

Zlatan Ibrahimovic (Instagram.com/@iamzlatanibrahimovic)

JAKARTA - Italian League club AC Milan striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic is expected to be out for eight months after undergoing knee surgery.

Quoted from Sky Sports on Thursday, Ibrahimovic underwent knee surgery after celebrating winning Serie A and this is an attempt to repair the damage and instability caused by a previous anterior cruciate ligament injury.

"AC Milan announces that Zlatan Ibrahimovic underwent surgery on his left knee carried out by Dr. Bertrand Sonnery-Cottet, in the presence of the club's medical director Stefano Mazzoni, at the Hopital Jean Mermoz in Lyon," a club statement read.

"Arthroscopy has been planned for the time being to definitively resolve joint instability through anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction, with lateral strengthening and meniscus repair. The operation was a complete success and the prognosis is estimated to be between seven and eight months," the statement continued.

If all goes well, Ibrahimovic will miss the first half of the 2022/23 season and is only expected to return to play in the second half.

Ibrahimovic's current contract at AC Milan expires in June and the Swede's lengthy absence could influence the club's decision to extend his contract.

This season, Zlatan Ibrahimovic has been sidelined several times due to injury so that he only appeared in 27 AC Milan matches in all competitions and contributed 8 goals and three assists from 1,167 minutes played.

At the start of this season, Ibrahimovic said he had not thought about retiring and still wanted to play for AC Milan until he finally decided to hang up his boots.