Just a crying shame this happened, particularly when hitting such good form and with the previous injury problems seeming to have disappeared. Still, he certainly has the resolve to give himself the best chance of at least getting back on the pitch. From there, who knows?
I have no concept of whether the knee feels the same after one of these surgeries (or at least with an ACL surgery). Would there be an expectation that the knee ever feels completely the same again? As mentioned in the article above, the fear of moving as you did pre-injury must be a huge factor with these kinds of injuries. I can hardly watch players who have come back from major injuries for the first few games myself, so it must be a significant challenge for the players themselves overcoming fear of a recurrence.