Would you put your life at risk in order to save your football career? Torino’s on-loan centre-back Leandro Castan faced that desperate dilemma two years ago.
Disaster struck out of the blue, just when everything seemed to be going in the right direction. The Brazilian defender enjoyed a brilliant personal season at Roma in 2013-14 and signed an improved contract until 2018 after rejecting a lucrative move to Chelsea. He was considered one of the top players in Serie A in his position and looked forward to fighting it out for the Scudetto.
Castan’s life changed, however, when he felt dizziness during his very first game of the season at Empoli.
He was replaced at half-time and medical checks revealed that he had developed cavernoma – an abnormal swelling of blood vessels in the brain. It could have been worse, of course, and the Brazilian wasn’t dealing with cancer but rather a benign tumor, but the situation was devastating nevertheless. While the condition was not life threatening, Castan was told that he wouldn’t be able to continue playing unless he underwent surgery to remove the tumor from his brain – an operation that was risky.
As the doctor openly explained, the chances of full recovery stood at 80 percent. That might seem high, but not when your very life is at stake. There was a 10 percent he would be paralysed and one of every 100 patients doesn’t survive the surgery.
At first, Castan decided against the operation. He went to Roma Sporting Director Walter Sabatini and asked to cancel the newly signed contract because he was retiring from football at the age of 27. Sabatini tried to persuade the star to change his mind and asked him to give it another thought. It was important advice.
As Castan explained in an interview to Diario de Sao Paulo, he decided to gamble while watching football on TV.
“I was sitting on the couch, and suddenly it struck me,” Castan said. “I have always lived for football, and I could play another six or seven years. I couldn’t give up like that. I immediately called the doctor and scheduled the surgery for the next week. I didn’t want to wait any longer, because I could change my mind yet again.”
It was natural that he didn’t want to give up. After all, he fought very hard to have a successful career. He was never considered a top prospect and his agent seemed lucky to arrange a move to Helsingborg in 2007. It didn’t work out, and Castan returned to his homeland, joining second division Barueri. It was then that things finally started rolling. The team was promoted and the defender enjoyed an impressive season; by 2010 he had joined his beloved Corinthians, a dream come true.
It took him another year to prove himself at the highest level, but by 2012 he was already one of the best defenders in Brazil. When Roma paid Dhs21 million (€5m) for his services, the legendary Cafu predicted that Castan would be a big success in Italy. “Leandro is a great player”, the former Roma star said – and he was right.
The first season in Serie A was difficult. Under Zdenek Zeman, players worked harder than ever in training, and defenders had a lot of work on their hands in an ultra-attacking lineup. Castan learned a lot, though, and by 2013 he was ready to make another step forward with Rudi Garcia on the bench. His partnership with Medhi Benatia in central defence was phenomenal, and Roma kept 20 clean sheets in the 36 games when Castan was on the pitch.
Little wonder that Jose Mourinho wanted to bring him to Stamford Bridge to replace David Luiz, but Roma didn’t want to sell. Benatia was on his way to Bayern Munich, and Garcia planned to build his defence around Castan. The player himself was excited to stay – he loved living in Italy and dreamed of adding some caps to his two appearances for the national team in 2012. In fact, some pundits thought that Luiz Felipe Scolari should have called him for the World Cup. The future looked bright, but fate decided differently.
After the surgery, Castan spent two months in the hospital. “I had to learn walking again,” he said, his arms and legs not feeling the same for a few weeks. Doctors told him not to worry, though, as the operation was a success, and the road to recovery was straightforward. By the summer of 2015 he was ready to return to football.
The problem was that Roma went in a different direction during the year the Brazilian was absent, and winning back his place in the starting line-up proved an extremely difficult task. Garcia preferred newly signed Kostas Manolas and Antonio Rudiger, while Daniele De Rossi also played in defence from time to time. Castan was limited to just four starts in Serie A, and didn’t play at all in the Champions League. Nothing changed for him when Garcia was replaced by Luciano Spalletti; he understood that a loan move was necessary to get the career back on track.
The script was rather complicated, as Castan was loaned to Sampdoria in July, only to switch to Torino in August without kicking a ball. Sinisa Mihajlovic wanted him, and the Serbian certainly knows about playing in central defence. “I immediately felt loved. There is a great desire to be reborn in a footballing sense,” Castan said in September – and that is exactly what he is doing.
“It is normal that it would take time to get to my previous level because I didn’t play for two years”, Castan remarked, but he is actually improving very fast. Torino’s defence looks stable with him, and the biggest test came against former club Roma a week ago. For Castan it wasn’t a case of revenge – on the contrary, he is grateful to Giallorossi for the way they treated him while he was ill. And yet, he openly talked about the difficult time last season and had a point to prove.
He did so with some aplomb. Torino won 3-1, and Castan didn’t put a foot wrong throughout the 90 minutes. Everyone was happy for him, and even Roma fans wish him well as the 29-year-old is becoming a top star yet again. After everything he has been through, Leandro most certainly deserves it.
