Expert: Man City have their own ‘Lionel Messi’ in the ranks after Monday reveal
Man City can call on the Lionel Messi of medicine in the form of Doctor Ramon Cugat.
That is the view of medical expert Ben Dinnery, who runs the Premier Injuries site and has a background in injury and data analysis.
Data collected by Premier Injuries and shared by Dinnery via Twitter last Monday (27 June) shows that City recorded the fewest non-contact injuries in the top flight in 2021-22.
Pep Guardiola’s favoured doctor is Cugat, the Spaniard who helped Kevin De Bruyne and Phil Foden in their injury rehab last term.
Dinnery stopped short of calling Cugat the best doctor in football but did hail him as a “world leader”.
“Undoubtedly, he is a leader in his field,” he told Football Insider’s Adam Williams.
“There is this association with the badge. People assume that if you’re a club doctor at City, you are better than a club doctor at Cheltenham Town. That isn’t the case.
“Cugat is a former Barcelona youth player and had a pre-existing relationship with Pep, who credited him with extending his career when he picked up an ankle injury in Qatar.
“From that moment, the relationship was cemented. So he has his trust.
“You need to have those lines of communication in place in this field. It’s all about trust and communication.
“The ‘Messi of medicine’ is a great strapline. It doesn’t do him any harm.
“He’s a world leader, but is he the best? You could talk about Professor Mariani out in Italy or Dr Richard Steadmen was the go-to not so long ago.”
In other news, paul Robinson preicts Man City could U-turn on Serge Gnabry after Sky transfer update.