Thibaut Courtois undergoes successful surgery on ACL injury
- Courtois was stretchered out of training last week
- Kepa Arrizabalaga was signed on loan from Chelsea as a replacement
- Madrid also lost Eder Militao to the same injury
By Tom Gott
Real Madrid have confirmed that goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois has undergone successful surgery on his ACL injury as he begins the long road to recovery.
Courtois went down in training last week and was quickly diagnosed with an ACL tear which will sideline him for the vast majority of the 2023/24 campaign.
Madrid wasted little time in searching for a new goalkeeper to replace the Belgian and ultimately settled on a loan deal for Chelsea's Kepa Arrizabalaga, the man who replaced Courtois at Stamford Bridge in 2018.
While Madrid fans will have a long wait to see Courtois again, the club at least confirmed that surgery on the Belgian's knee had been successful, with his recovery plan set to be drawn up in the coming days.
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Courtois' injury came just days before the first game of the season, in which centre-back Eder Militao also suffered the same injury.
Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola, who has lost Kevin De Bruyne to a nasty hamstring injury, recently argued that Madrid had fallen victim to a scheduling overload from both FIFA and UEFA and urged players to protest the number of games they are forced to play.
While Madrid opted to sign Kepa to replace Courtois, reports in Spain suggest they may not look to recruit a new centre-back, with Castilla gem Marvel instead expected to be promoted to the first team.
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