After 14 long months and two injury nightmares, Osasuna star striker Luis Ezequiel ‘Chimy’ Avila has returned to a matchday squad.
The Argentine missed the final six months of the last campaign with an ACL injury suffered in his left knee in January before suffering a similar injury in his right knee in September, on the eve of the current campaign.
Read more: Proudly bearing scars, Osasuna’s Chimy Avila nears recovery
😁 ¡La espera ha llegado a su fin!
💪🏼 El Chimy Ávila (@chimy337) vuelve a una convocatoria con el @CAOsasuna
❌ Lleva 14 meses de inactividad por culpa de dos lesiones de rodillapic.twitter.com/XhKb7RBbrx
— El Partidazo de COPE (@partidazocope) March 19, 2021
Now, 14 months after his last match, the 27-year-old has returned to Osasuna’s side for this weekend’s La Liga clash against basement side Huesca.
📝 SQUAD LIST | #Osasuna calls twenty three players to play against Huesca. #HuescaOsasuna pic.twitter.com/9fZ9e1rGEp
— C. A. OSASUNA (@caosasuna_en) March 19, 2021
It is a fitting fixture for Avila, who helped fire Huesca to promotion in 2018 and netted 10 league goals for them in just 20 starts in the 2018/19 season, but he then joined Osasuna permanently from parent club San Lorenzo in Argentina.
That move was processed for a reported €2.7m and his form has continued to improve – scoring 11 goals in just 22 appearances for the club.
However, he has suffered multiple injury heartbreaks since and he will now be hopeful of a sustained run of fitness and matches at the Pamplona club.
Avila is a striker whose game is based on a lot more than just his goal output, with his work rate and energy valued assets of his style of play.