Successfully operated on for a syndesmosis injury, Adil Bourabaa, the Le Mans FC attacking midfielder, will be out for around three months and will miss Algeria’s two matches against Togo in November.
The news broke this Tuesday: Adil Bourabaa has undergone successful ankle surgery. According to Foot Mercato, the 21-year-old attacking midfielder underwent reparative syndesmosis surgery designed to treat his lesion definitively and rule out any risk of recurrence. Le Mans FC therefore lose one of their in-form men from the start of the season for some time.
The expected absence is around three months, reports DzBallon, which confirms he will miss the rest of the 2026 calendar year. His agent, Souleymane Ba, for his part gave reassuring news about the player’s state of mind, according to Fennec Football and AfricaFoot. The Le Mans staff, meanwhile, did not hide the seriousness of the situation in recent days.
An injury picked up with the Fennecs
Bourabaa was injured at the start of October, during the Algeria national team camp, in the match against Niger (2-1), reports DzBallon. The young Algerian talent was therefore injured on international duty, just weeks after his convincing debut in the Le Mans shirt.
This serious injury is the first major interruption of the player’s career, Le Mans FC head coach Patrick Videira stressed in a press conference. Indeed, the latter had warned last week about the seriousness of the situation, after consulting several ankle specialists, according to the club.
A standout start to the season
The timing is all the harsher given that the attacking midfielder was enjoying an excellent start to the Ligue 1 campaign. According to L’Équipe and Foot Mercato, Bourabaa had a record of 3 goals and 2 assists in just 5 appearances for Le Mans.
The Sarthe club will therefore have to cope without him for around three months. The player has already begun his convalescence protocol ahead of the rehabilitation phase scheduled at the medical centre, Fennec Football indicates. His return to the training pitches and to competitive action is now hoped for during the first quarter of 2027, according to DzBallon: a hope, not a certainty.
The man retains his coach’s confidence in any case. “I’m sure that when we get Adil back, he’ll be firing on all cylinders and twice as strong. It’s part of a football player’s development path,” Patrick Videira said, quoted by Le Mans FC and Foot Africa.
Algeria deprived for Togo
On the international front, his withdrawal is no longer in doubt. Bourabaa will officially miss Algeria’s double-header against Togo in the 2027 AFCON qualifiers on 14 and 17 November 2026, according to DzBallon. National team coach Brahim Hemdani will therefore have to do without his young attacking midfielder for these two fixtures.
The player must now focus on his rehabilitation, whose immobilisation phase has just begun.