Radu Dragusin finally completed his return to the pitch, featuring in a Tottenham friendly at Hotspur Way on Wednesday, and the centre-back is over the moon to be back after 10 months out of the game.
After a difficult start to life at Tottenham after arriving from Genoa, it appeared like Dragusin had turned a corner at the start of the year, proving a reliable presence at the back in the absence of Cristian Romero and Micky van de Ven.
However, disaster struck for the Romanian in January as he suffered an ACL injury during Tottenham’s Europa League win against Elfsborg.
It has been a long and difficult road back for Dragusin, who has been back in full training for the last few weeks, and he finally made it onto the pitch for a match on Wednesday.
Tottenham defender Radu Dragusin is delighted to get some minutes into his legs
The 23-year-old played 45 minutes for Tottenham’s U21s in their behind-closed-doors friendly against Leyton Orient, and he came through the game unscathed.
The centre-back admitted that it felt great to finally be out to test his fitness in a match after working his way up to this moment for many months.
Speaking after his involvement on Wednesday, Dragusin said (via the club’s official website): “Honestly, it felt really good. Getting back out there with the boys, with the Under-21s, they’ve been great, they’ve been helping me, so I’m really grateful for this moment.
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“It’s different, you can train how much you want, but once you are there in 11v11 on a big pitch, it’s different, you can’t really replicate it in training.
“It’s the details like the sprints back, the adversity, the exposure that you get as a defender, it was a good day. It felt good, first minutes in 10 months out, finally minutes in the legs, and I just have to build on this.”
Dragusin has learned patience and gratitude
Going through a serious long-term injury is extremely testing for a professional footballer, particularly for players who are close to the start of their careers.
Dragusin confessed that he has learned some life lessons from his ordeal over the last 10 months, including patience and gratitude.
When asked about the difficult time he had to endure, the former Genoa man said: “I learned to be patient and to never take anything for granted. Because one day you are on the top of the mountain, the next second you are with this kind of injury.
“This is life, it’s only to make me stronger, make me more resilient. I’ve never given up, and things are really close to being back to normal.”