Napoli striker Arkadiusz Milik could return to action in about three months despite suffering a cruciate ligament injury on Saturday, the Italian club said yesterday.

The 22-year-old sustained the knee injury in Poland’s 3-2 victory over Denmark in a World Cup qualifier and underwent surgery yesterday.

Such injuries usually take about six months to recover from.

“We are hoping to see him running again in January, I want to be optimistic,” the head of Napoli’s medical staff Alfonso De Nicola told the club’s radio channel.

“Recovery time will be shorter than we usually declare as precautionary measure, let’s say three, three months and a half, but we hope even much less.”

Napoli, second in Serie A and four points behind leaders Juventus, host third-placed Roma on Saturday.

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