Corinthians will wait for the results of Alexandre Pato’s medical examinations before setting a date for the striker’s debut.
Pato, 23, joined Corinthians last week from Italian giants AC Milan and declared that he was fully fit and raring to go for the Club World Cup winners despite suffering from a number of injuries in the past year while in Italy.
As a result, Corinthians are keen not to put pressure on the striker and will wait for the results of the medical assessment before deciding on how to manage the player as the Brazilian season gets underway.
“Football is not mathematics,” Corinthians fitness coach Fábio Mahseredjian told Globo Esporte.
“The human body can react in one way or another. If I say within a week and then it is two, you’re going to charge me. Not that I’m afraid. But for now, I can not give any deadline (for the debut of Pato).”
One of the reasons Pato cited for returning to Brazil was to help try and get over the muscle problems he has suffered in the past 18 months and Mahseredjian believes that the player’s pre-season will be key to his long-term fitness.
“I have not had access to data from Pato, but soon I will analyse the results. He was in Milan since 2007, he will need time to adapt.
“So we have great concern not speed up the process, but things happen in a more natural way. It is necessary that the player has a good base fitness to stand the football calendar of Brazil.”
Source: Globo Esporte
