Over the last few seasons, Rangers medical room has seen a near constant flow of traffic leaving Philippe Clement and his predecessors wondering if there is a curse.
The manager claimed that he could fix the problem, however, this season has seen the squad continue to be beset with injury issues.
It would appear that the leaving Auchenhowie behind doesn’t seem to make much difference either with Borna Barisic taking some of his luck from Rangers with him to his new club Leganes.
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Borna Barisic gets brutal injury confirmation after debut nightmare
The 32-year old Croatia international must have thought that he had hit the jackpot when he left Trabzonpsor behind to join Leganes in La Liga.
Less than a year ago, he was facing trips to places like Dingwall and Dundee, now he had Madrid and Barcelona on his calander.
Unfortunately, his dream move to Spain turned sour just 10 minutes into his debut against Valencia when he had to go off injured.
Leganes have now confirmed that Barisic suffered a tear to his anterior cruciate ligament in his knee.
At any age, this is a long, hard rehabilitation. For a player who will be 33 this year and with a history of hamstring injuries already, it will be even harder.
What next for Barisic?
The ACL rehabilitation process relies heavily on the hamstrings being developed to ease the burden off the knee.
In most cases, the ligament is repaired by taking a piece of the hamstring tendon and inserting it into the knee during surgery.
Ianis Hagi was only 23 when he did his and he took over a year to get back playing.
Barisic’s contract at Trabzonspor ends in 15 months’ time, as does his loan at Leganes, but he will be lucky to be back playing by then.
The prospect of looking for a new club at nearly 34 having not played for a year and a half is a challenge that even the toughest mentally would struggle with.
What research also shows, is that it can take as long as the rehabilitation process for the player to rediscover form and full confidence – again, Hagi being a great example this season.
It’s a long road back for Barisic, hopefully he has more luck than some of Rangers recent long-term injury victims on his way back to fitness.
