TIMOTHY CASTAGNE’S broken eye-socket injury which required a six-hour operation was just 3cm away from ending his career.
The Belgium full-back sustained a horror blow in his nation’s Euro 2020 opener against Russia on Saturday.
He had a nasty clash of heads with Daley Kuzyaev midway through the first half in St Petersburg.
And the heavy blow to his right eye socket caused ‘three or four’ breaks.
According to HLN in Belgium, had the contact been just 3cm higher, the neurological damage could have had tragic ramifications for his career.
Castagne, 25, underwent surgery from 3pm to 9pm under general anaesthetic on Tuesday to reconstruct the socket.
Metal parts were inserted to help the recovery process.
Castagne is expected to head home in the coming days and must rest for two weeks.
The versatile Leicester City man is expected to be able to return to playing football within six to eight weeks, meaning he faces a race against time to be fit for the start of the Premier League season.
Brendan Rodgers’ Foxes face Wolves on the opening weekend of the 2021-22 campaign on August 14.
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Speaking on Sunday before the procedure, Castagne’s Belgium boss Roberto Martinez said: “This is really bad news.
“He has already left the training camp. He will go for a consultation with the specialist on Tuesday.
“On the images, we have been able to see that it is not two, but three or four fractures. He will recover perfectly, but that will take about six weeks.”
Castagne required surgery in 2015 to correct his vision troubles from exophoria following another serious collision during a game.
The FA Cup winner said: “From childhood, I suffered from exophoria, a condition in which the two eyes are turned slightly outwards.
“My brain corrected that which allowed me to see optimally, but after the collision with Ibou I felt my vision deteriorate. I saw double, suffered a lot from migraine attacks.
“When I also saw white spots in front of my eyes in a cup match against Charleroi, I felt that it couldn’t go on like this.
“Even after four or five scans, no doctor found a medical cause for my vision problems. I was really worried. That way I couldn’t keep playing at a high level.
“A small cut in both eye muscles has ensured that I have been freed from my double vision.
“I was not allowed to do anything for the first month after the operation. No television, no computer, no cell phone.”
In a bizarre twist of fate for the Red Devils, superstar Kevin De Bruyne also suffered a fractured eye socket just two weeks before Euro 2020 started.
He underwent a successful operation and, despite sitting out of the opening win over Russia, is hopeful of playing his part in the tournament with a protective mask.
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
