The Tottenham Hotspur goalkeeper underwent hernia surgery this week and one of his coaches has indicated just how bad the problem was
One of Guglielmo Vicario's goalkeeping coaches revealed the Italian has been struggling with his hernia problems for months to make sure he was available for struggling Tottenham this season.
The Italian had been playing through the pain for Spurs until it was decided that he had suffered enough and would undergo surgery on Monday. First though Vicario made himself available for Sunday's defeat to Nottingham Forest in the Premier League to try to help out his team-mates one last time before going under the knife.
The 29-year-old timed the operation to coincide with a long gap in Tottenham's fixtures as after the two week international break comes the FA Cup weekend with the north London side out of the competition. That means Spurs will not play again until April 12 when they make the trip to Sunderland in the Premier League looking to save their top flight status.
Vicario is expected to be back in action within a month so may miss just the one match if he misses any at all. In the meantime the Italy international has been nominated for the Premier League Save of the Month award for his flying tip on the post at Anfield to deny Liverpool's Cody Gakpo.
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The stunning save prevented the hosts from taking a two-goal lead before the break as he reacted to the Dutchman's quickly taken shot from inside the penalty area. and Spurs eventually found a late goal from Richarlison to grab a point.
Reacting to the award nomination on Instagram, Tottenham goalkeeping coach Fabian Otte, who won the Premier League with Liverpool last season, posted a message to Vicario which read: "So much respect for what you went through for months to be there for the team every game."
That gave more of a sense of the severity of the pain the Italian had been suffering and for how long it was restricting him.
According to La Gazzetta dello Sport, Vicario took a private flight over to his homeland on Wednesday evening and will now stay with the Italy squad for the remainder of the international break. They face a play-off final away against Bosnia and Herzegovina after getting past Northern Ireland side featuring Spurs' Jamie Donley on Thursday night.
Vicario will then return to London to continue his recovery process ahead of Tottenham's final seven Premier League matches of a difficult season.