Take one step back, to be able to take two forward. It is the path that Alexia Putellas, captain of Barça and reference in women’s football worldwide, has chosen to fully recover from recurring knee problems that have prevented her from becoming the player who won the Ballon d’Or twice consecutively After weighing her options, the Catalan footballer has decided to undergo an arthroscopy to examine her left knee in depth, the same one that was injured in July 2022. The operation, which requires surgery, will take place today in Barcelona .
The great icon of women’s football in recent years (courtesy of Aitana Bonmatí) wants to return to being the player she was just a year and a half ago, when a rupture of the cruciate ligament in her left knee left her in dry dock for nine long months They were very hard times for the footballer, who came to receive the second trophy as the best on the planet while injured.
The goal of reaching the World Cup in Australia weighed on her recovery plans and Alexia made an effort to be at the appointment, in which the team coached by Jorge Vilda was proclaimed world champion. A logical lack of rhythm was evident during that championship, but the knee responded well then and also in the following preseason. However, already with the course started, on November 14, during the match against Benfica in the Champions League, Alexia received a blow to the knee that changed everything. The midfielder had scored two goals in the first half, but had to be substituted at half-time. Since then, she has trained apart from her teammates and was also unable to be at the call of Montse Tomé with the Spanish team.
A month and a half after what happened against Benfica, the discomfort has not subsided. For this reason, advised by Barça’s medical services, the player has decided to go through the operating room again. Despite the fact that the various tests and scans carried out both at Barça and the national team have ruled out a serious injury, a simple arthroscopy has been chosen to thoroughly examine the knee. It is an intervention without any kind of complication and without anything structural. The goal of the player is to feel 100% again as soon as possible.
Before having these ailments, the 29-year-old from Mollet del Vallès had played eight games with Barça this season – seven in Liga F and one in the Champions League – in which she had scored four goals. His performance was even better and he had already established himself with the club to design his new contract, as his association with Barça ends in June. Those talks ended with an offer from the entity that would exceed one million euros and would substantially increase the conditions of the footballer, who did not get any improvement despite her great level in recent years. Putellas has always put all the facilities in the club and has been willing to renew, but the truth is that there are many clubs interested, both from England and from the United States and Mexico.
In January Alexia will be free to negotiate her future. And although everything indicates that he will end up accepting Barca’s offer, one of the National Women’s Soccer (NSWL) teams, Angel City FC from Los Angeles, founded by Natalie Portman or ex-tennis player Serena Williams, has shown a lot of interest in hiring her.
Despite this, Putellas seems to be more interested in the sporting factor of playing in Europe. It should not be forgotten that the footballer’s main income comes from advertising contracts due to her media push. It is the image of Nike, with which it has been linked since 2013, also of Visa, Cupra, of the watch brand Hublot, among others, and it has more than three million followers on Instagram. In fact, Forbes magazine states that in this area he could pocket around 2.9 million euros, almost three times what his new Barcelona contract would be after his expected renewal.
