Gattuso waiting on eye surgery

AC Milan war-horse Gennaro Gattuso has reaffirmed his desire to see out his contract despite suffering from double vision.

Not surprisingly, the 2006 World Cup winner said it would ‘take more than (paralysis)’ to force him into retirement with the 33-year-old veteran booked in for surgery to reduce inflammation of the seventh cranial nerve.

Gattuso has not played since the opening game of the season in Serie A but is eager to return to action as soon as possible.

“There was a time when I thought the worst, but I want to get back to playing football,” Gattuso said.

“It’ll take more than this to beat me. The important thing is to not give up. I can train, but I can’t play because I have double vision.”

“About 25 days ago there was the risk that I could be forced to retire. The first thing that vice-president Adriano Galliani said to me was to not worry because the club could use me in other ways.”

The dogged midfielder recounted ’20 minutes of hell’ in a league match with Lazio in September where he clashed with teammate Alessandro Nesta before asking to come off the pitch.

“I was advised not to play (against Lazio) as something had already occurred four days earlier, but I wanted to and I stepped out on to the pitch with vision problems,” Gattuso added.

“I didn’t see Sandro at all. I looked drunk for the first 20 minutes of that game, they were horrible. I saw Zlatan Ibrahimovic in four different positions.”

The Italian giants have turned to neurosurgeons in the US in an attempt to cure Gattuso’s condition, but a return could still be a while off.

“After 50 days out, I’ll need to wait another four months before an operation can take place to resolve everything.”

“At this time I’m not thinking about football, but about daily life. It’s horrible to not be able to drive because you see double.”

Gattuso has won two Serie A titles and lifted the Champions League trophy twice in 330 appearances for the Rossoneri.