Ronan Curtis's Journey to Full Fitness
Ronan Curtis is moving like a man who has left the limp behind.
A year ago, the Plymouth Argyle winger was grinding through games on a damaged knee, swallowing tablets, managing pain, and living with the constant threat of a flare-up. Now, five starts into the new League One campaign, he insists that chapter is closed.
“The knee’s good,” he told BBC South West, a simple line that carries a lot of weight for a 30-year-old who plays on the edge.
Curtis joined Argyle permanently from Port Vale in January and eased his way into life at Home Park, scoring twice in 23 appearances in all competitions last season. Those numbers only tell half the story. Behind them sat a slight meniscus tear, picked up in pre-season, that he chose to play through.
He could run. He could twist. He could compete. But every so often the joint would swell, the discomfort would spike, and the tablets would come out again.
“It was something that I did last pre-season,” he said. He managed it, game to game, week to week, right through the campaign. The risk was always there. The decision stayed the same: keep going.
The summer finally brought a pause and, with it, a choice he could no longer delay. Curtis went under the knife, the operation clearing the lingering problem that had shadowed him for months.
“I managed to get it done this season, get the surgery and back to my fully fit best now,” he said. “I have all faith in myself to come back stronger, fitter and much better.”
That faith is already being tested in the best possible way. Argyle have leaned on him from the off, starting him in all five of their League One fixtures so far. Two wins, two defeats and a draw tell of a team still finding its rhythm, but Curtis has been right in the middle of it, trusted to set the tone from the flank.
The contrast with last season is stark. No more swelling “the odd time.” No more pills to get through 90 minutes. No more wondering how the knee will react to a sharp turn or a late challenge.
“It was something that I needed to get done in the summer,” he admitted. Now, he says he is “all fit and healthy.”
For Argyle, that is more than just good news on the medical front. A fully firing Curtis brings direct running, aggression, and goals from wide areas — the kind of edge that can tilt tight League One games.
He has already shown he can carry a workload. The next question is how high he can push his level now that the pain has finally stepped aside.
