Konstantinos Mavropanos will miss three to five weeks of football with a meniscus injury, after successful surgery to fix the problem.

STUTTGART, GERMANY - AUGUST 10: Konstantinos Mavropanos of VfB Stuttgart poses during the team presentation at Mercedes-Benz Arena on August 10, 2020 in Stuttgart, Germany. (Photo by Matthias Hangst/Getty Images)
STUTTGART, GERMANY: Konstantinos Mavropanos of VfB Stuttgart poses during the team presentation on August 10, 2020. (Photo by Matthias Hangst/Getty Images)

Echo24 (via Sport Witness) report that Stuttgart coach Pellegrino Matarazzo told the media the surgery went well, and Mavropanos can return to action in three to five weeks.

VfB Stuttgart initially reported that Mavropanos picked up an injury to his meniscus in the friendly against SC Freiburg over the international break. A sad irony, given it was during a match planned for the sole purpose of building fitness and sharpness.

Matarazzo confirmed Mavropanos would need an operation. Chris Wheatley added that the defender would miss around a month pre-surgery, which is roughly consistent with the latest post-surgery timetable.

That’s good news because meniscus problems can take a lot longer than that. Sergio Aguero has missed 115 days after surgery on the same area.

It’s the latest in a growing list of injuries for the centre-back. In just a few months with FC Nurnberg earlier this year, he picked up two separate injuries keeping him out for multiple games each time.

In fact, he was rather lucky not to miss more, with lockdown starting soon after his first injury. That gave him a couple of months to recover.

That’s not to mention that the reason he went on loan in the first place is that he missed the entirety of Arsenal’s pre-season and the first month of the league campaign with a groin problem. By the time he was available for Unai Emery to select, he was way down the pecking order.

We say the same thing every time. If Mavropanos is going to make it at Arsenal, he has to have a long period of full fitness. This is another setback in that attempt, and we wish him well with his recovery.