I agree this is all speculation and a lot of unreasonable speculation at that but having just had an acl done it's not always cut and dry. I'm not a professional athlete but the dr told me that the surgery is completely up to me and hes known many people who just live with it and function at a high level. Moreover after he cut my knee open he almost didnt do it because he thought I may not need it. Dont get me wrong, I dont think any of this occurred and I do think a professional athlete is on another level but I'm just saying it's not as cut and dry as you may think.