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Get well soon, Raul

The affection from the other players on the later photos is evident
 
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You'd think it'd be good for Conor and Rui to see him in person they were probably the closest to 'ground zero' when it went down.

Wonderful to see him out and smiling.
 
definitely added some warm and fuzzyness to my day seeing the article/pics show up in my feed

I also wouldn't have guessed to be out and about already, so good news all around with the update from his dad, if accurate
 
Really good to see those pics - positive that he's out and about this early and doubt that he would have been allowed to if the medics were advising against.
 
He's just said he's feeling well, is in good spirits and is now in the rehab phase and following his doctors orders so he can come back soon. He thanks us all for the well wishes and support.
 
If I was Raul, I honestly don't know if I'd bother making a comeback. I think with any injury that's potentially seriously life-altering (disability or death, rather than a limp, if that makes sense) it's just not worth pushing your luck. He'll be presumably financially very comfortable, and maybe would even get some sort of insurance pay out.

I know elite athletes tend to be wired differently from the rest of us in terms of drive and motivation, but if there's even a hint of long-term damage to his brain or structural weakness to his skull he should be fucking off to Spain or Mexico and carving out a career in TV for something do. His just had a kid, and life's more important than football. I'm really bloody nervous for him, whilst acknowledging that I am prone to overreaction.
 
I agree with that, Del. I guess it all comes down to the severity of the fracture and what he's being told by the medics as to its longterm effects. If his skull is now more susceptible to future fracture as a result, that would be the clincher for me.

And this is all apart from the psychological effects of this. Raul is exceptionally good in the air, all over the pitch. If he has any doubts as to his ability to win headers again, he'll not be the same player.

If he makes a return at anything like the standard we're used to, it would be a bonus for me.
 
Loads of players have come back from skull injuries.

There are loads of players who have had heart scares, gone through treatment and carried on playing.

He isn't going to carry on playing against medical advice (for one thing, we'd find it impossible to insure him), Ryan Mason is the exception, not the rule.
 
Well that's the other question, and it's impossible to word it without sounding like a cunt. I'll make the point that I'd genuinely rather he retire healthy than take any risks, even if it meant we got nothing, before I ask it.

If he were to retire, presumably we've insured him as 'an asset', and so would receive some form of compensation? Is that generally a market value thing, or is it to a set insured amount? If a player then comes back, and whilst physically is OK, but his mental state makes him less useful as a player, is there anything that can be done there?
 
We'd get something back as a club (not the £50m+ he'd be worth in the open market of course), it's an industry in itself. Like with all insurance products, you get what you pay for.

On the mental side you could get an assessment from qualified professionals that he's been rendered incapable of playing to his normal level I suppose.

When Brian Law came back we had to pay the £134,000 (an oddly specific sum) that QPR received when he retired and they cancelled his registration. That was 1994 though and he was a middling second tier level centre half, not one of the icons of an entire country.
 
Aye, I'd imagine you're looking at pretty eye-watering sums of money given the value of elite footballers, despite as you say, the infrequency in which they actual have to retire through injury
 
By the way if he were forced to retire (I don't think he will be, for the avoidance of doubt) then I would think it'd be highly likely that one or both of the club/Raul would take out a civil case of some kind against Arsenal/David Luiz.

Note how at no stage have we said (at least as far as I'm aware) that we absolve him of any responsibility or that we accept it was an accident.

Saunders somehow didn't get done in a civil case for the Paul Elliott challenge (scandalous), but Muscat did in the case that Matty Holmes brought.
 
Aye, I'd imagine you're looking at pretty eye-watering sums of money given the value of elite footballers, despite as you say, the infrequency in which they actual have to retire through injury
All manner of stuff comes into it. Age, future value, commercial value, length of contract, injury history, etc etc etc. It's very involved. Sounds like a fun job but I imagine it's actually incredibly stressful to deal with all the time :D

Without having any actual inside knowledge it will be a more than safe bet that Fosun have us signed up to the very most comprehensive terms.
 
Yeah, there will be an insurance policy in place both in the club's name and in Raul's name.
 
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