Gerard Deulofeu: 3 Years Injured, Still Training Daily

Gerard Deulofeu hasn't kicked a ball in a professional match for 1,100 days, but every morning he shows up at Udinese's gym believing he can make history.

The 31-year-old former Spain international thought he was recovering from a routine ACL tear back in January 2023. Then an infection struck, eating away the cartilage in his right knee until bone ground against bone.

"I lost all my personal life," Deulofeu says. "There was a time where I could not walk with my kids, take the dogs out, drive the car."

Most players recover from ACL injuries in eight to ten months. Deulofeu had already done that once before at Watford in 2020, returning successfully after eight months.

But this injury was different. After playing just 15 minutes off the bench against Sampdoria, his ACL completely ruptured and the subsequent infection destroyed his knee's natural cushioning.

For nearly two years, he underwent cell treatment to rebuild cartilage. Scans showed it getting worse instead of better.

He reached out to Santi Cazorla, the former Arsenal midfielder who missed 636 days after gangrene ravaged his Achilles. "It is an amazing example," Deulofeu says of Cazorla's comeback.

Now, after six months of intense muscle building, training three to four hours every morning five days a week, Deulofeu believes he's close to trying to run again. "The more muscle you get, the less pain you have inside the knee," he explains.

His doctors remain cautious. Running without cartilage or meniscus seems impossible to most medical professionals.

Why This Inspires

What keeps Deulofeu going isn't just his love for football. It's his eight-year-old daughter and five-year-old son, both playing football themselves, asking him every day: "When are you going to get back? I want to go with you to the stadium!"

The injury gave him something most professional footballers never get during their careers: time at home watching his children grow up. "Your kids are growing so fast," he says. "With football you lose a lot of good periods, good moments."

But now he wants both. He wants his children to have memories of watching their father play, to share in the passion that took him from Barcelona's La Masia academy to the FA Cup final, from Milan to Merseyside.

"One of the things I get energy from is that I know I can make history," Deulofeu says. His definition of making history isn't about trophies anymore—it's about doing what medical science says can't be done.

His muscle strength now matches the players training alongside him at Udinese. Soon he'll know if his rebuilt knee can handle impact.

Deulofeu calls it a miracle, but after 1,100 days of refusing to quit, it looks a lot like determination.