Serious injuries, especially to the knee, can hamper the career of any footballer no matter how talented they are. That’s much more pronounced when it happens at the start of a career, especially when a player is yet to really establish himself as a professional at a high level.
For Lukáš Vorlický, that’s been the case and the 23-year-old believes that if it wasn’t for his injury nightmares he could be like Dejan Kulusevski and Amad Diallo, who he was with at Atalanta, and player for Tottenham Hotspur or Manchester United by know.
Czech newspaper DNES have interviewed the Croatian midfielder. He moved from Atalanta to Slavia Praha in 2024 after his career had fallen. A terrible total of five knee surgeries in seven years in the Atalanta system left his career hanging by a thread.
He’s struggling to impose himself at Slavia Praha and there’s repeat fitness worries which all route themselves back to the knee issues.
Poor treatment means future issues likely
DNES asked Lukáš Vorlický if he believes that without his terrible luck he could be at Tottenham or Manchester United like his old teammates. In response, the forward said: “I don’t want this to sound cocky, but yes. People have been telling me since I was a child that I could grow up to be a great footballer. Even more so at Atalanta, because everyone at the club believed in me. But I was also always aware that I was a boy from Boskovice who used to go to the gravel pitch with his friends after school to kick a ball.”
The young footballer also had issues with treatment, which means his knee is likely to go again. Asked if he blamed the doctor, such a stance was dismissed: “Why? He’s only human. He operated on ten people that day, I got bad luck, it happens, I can’t change it. Who knows what would have happened if I had been healthy? I’m humanly happy. Would I have been the same if I had continued? I have no idea. I’m just sorry I didn’t play.”