Goma has successful surgery

Fulham central defender Alain Goma has undergone knee surgery and could be out for the rest of the month.

The Frenchman has missed the Cottagers’ last two games due to the knee problem, but is hoping for a swift return to action.

He told the club’s official website: “I had an arthroscopy on my knee two weeks ago and the target was to wash out some pieces of cartilage that were loose in the joint.

“My knee had swollen and the movement was being blocked every time I ran, so we had to do something about it.

“Everything went well, so now I just need to recover my strength, but the knee feels very good. I’m at the stage now of slowly building up the work that I do on the leg.

“I would hope that I would be available for selection again by the end of the month.”

Fulham physio Jason Palmer confirmed that Goma is on course to make a full recovery, and could come back even fitter than before.

“He turned up for training one morning and couldn’t bend his knee properly; there was obviously a blockage in there and he couldn’t get anywhere near his normal range of movement.

“Consequently we had the leg scanned and reviewed by a knee specialist, and he concluded there must be a piece of cartilage or bone blocking the joint.

“So it was decided that an arthroscopic review was required, and Alain underwent key-hole surgery that evening and they found that he did indeed have some loose bodies inside the joint itself. So the surgeon washed the whole thing out.

“His knee has recovered very, very well. He now has a better range of movement than he had three or four months ago, so it’s felt that the surgery has had a very positive impact.

“He was doing very basic exercises straight away. He’ll start running in the next couple of days, his strengthening work is coming along very well, so we’re very happy with him.