Di Lorenzo to have surgery despite all-clear on ACL: ‘The pain was unbearable’

Napoli have confirmed that captain Giovanni Di Lorenzo is set to have surgery, despite the fact that he was given the all-clear from a potential ACL injury earlier this week.

Di Lorenzo to have surgery on foot, but not on his knee

The Partenopei skipper hyperextended his knee during his side’s recent 2-1 win over Fiorentina and there had been genuine concerns that he had torn his cruciate ligament in the process. Antonio Conte told reporters after full-time that his medical staff had feared an ACL injury. 

Fortunately, that turned out not to be the case, as the club confirmed in a statement. Di Lorenzo suffered a Grade II sprain to his left knee, which is expected to keep him out for around one month, rather than six.

However, Di Lorenzo has since confirmed that he has been playing on an unspecified foot injury for most of the 2025-26 campaign and that the more he had been playing, the worse the issue had become. 

Given that Di Lorenzo was set for a spell on the sidelines anyway, he and the club have now taken the decision to have surgery on the foot issue. 

“I feared the worst after the knee injury. Tests later revealed significant trauma, but fortunately, the cruciate ligament held up,” Di Lorenzo explained in a post on Instagram. 

He continued: “Not everybody knows this, but for the last six months I’ve been playing with a foot problem that requires surgery. However, as I didn’t want to leave the team during a difficult period, I decided to play through it, possibly making things worse.

“The situation and the pain has become unbearable for me and given the enforced lay-off with my knee, we’ve decided to have surgery on my foot. I’ll do my best to return as soon as possible to continue defending our beloved shirt in the best possible condition.”