It’s happened again, once again Wolfsburg’s right-back William has suffered a serious knee injury. The Brazilian will probably never play another game for VfL again.
He probably knew straight away what had happened. William buckled his right knee without the intervention of an opponent in the test kick against Hansa Rostock (1:3), immediately went down, pressed his head into the turf, indicated his desire to change, punched several times with his clenched fist in his other hand. Pain, anger and frustration erupted. A day later, the Brazilian had the terrible certainty: once again, he had suffered what VfL communicated as a “serious knee injury”. “That,” feels sport director Marcel Schäfer with his protégé, “is a very bitter thing for him.”
For William’s knee case is becoming a sad trilogy. It all started on 8 February 2020, in Wolfsburg’s home match against Fortuna Düsseldorf (1:1) the full-back ruptured his cruciate ligament in his left knee in a duel with opponent Erik Thommy. The second accident occurred at the beginning of May this year during his loan to FC Schake 04, when he tore the cruciate ligament in his right knee during training. Again surgery, again rehab.
A prolongation was not planned, regardless of the injury
His comeback on Wednesday against Rostock ended after only a few minutes, again the right knee is affected. During the warm-up, coach Florian Kohfeldt reported, there had already been a “small incident”, William was dropped from the starting eleven at short notice. After detailed checks by the VfL doctors, both they and William gave the green light for the start. The defender warmed up and celebrated his return, which ended abruptly.
What’s next for William? “We will support him as best we can “, assures Schäfer. However, the contract with the Brazilian, who moved to VfL from Internacional Porto Alegre in 2017, ends at the end of June. An extension was not planned, regardless of the current situation. Also because the player is probably drawn back to his homeland. Whether the 26-year-old will be able to continue his career in Brazil, however, is currently written in the stars.
