Harvey Barnes looks set to miss months rather than weeks with the foot injury he picked up in the astonishing 8-0 win at Bramall Lane on Sunday.
Speaking in his pre-match press conference ahead of the third-round Carabao Cup tie with Manchester City tomorrow evening, head coach Eddie Howe called the issue "substantial".
Howe went on to say that Barnes had already undergone a scan to see whether surgery would be necessary or not, but that he was not yet aware of the full prognosis.
Should the worst-case scenario come to pass then we may not see the left-winger again until January at the earliest.
He will join Joelinton (knee) and Joe Willock (achilles) on the sidelines, though it is hoped that the big Brazilian could come back into the squad in time for the West Ham game in 11 days.
Willock is not expected back until late October at the earliest, having suffered a fresh achilles injury during his rehabilitation from two hamstring injuries, the first of which he sustained at the back end of last season.
Anthony Gordon is currently the first-choice in the left-wing slot, but Alexander Isak, Elliot Anderson, Jacob Murphy, and Miguel Almirón are also capable of playing there with varying degrees of success.
Still, it's far from ideal to have such a concentration of injuries down the left side of the pitch, especially this early in the campaign.
All of us here at NUFC.news wish Barnes a speedy recovery!
PL | GD | PTS | ||
---|---|---|---|---|
1 |
Liverpool
|
14 | 18 | 35 |
2 |
Chelsea
|
15 | 17 | 31 |
3 |
Arsenal
|
15 | 14 | 29 |
4 |
Manchester City
|
15 | 6 | 27 |
5 |
Nottingham Forest
|
15 | 1 | 25 |
6 |
Aston Villa
|
15 | 0 | 25 |
7 |
Brighton
|
15 | 3 | 24 |
8 |
Bournemouth
|
15 | 3 | 24 |
9 |
Brentford
|
15 | 3 | 23 |
10 |
Fulham
|
15 | 2 | 23 |
11 |
Tottenham Hotspur
|
15 | 12 | 20 |
12 |
Newcastle United
|
15 | -2 | 20 |
13 |
Manchester United
|
15 | 1 | 19 |
14 |
West Ham United
|
15 | -9 | 16 |
15 |
Everton
|
14 | -7 | 14 |
16 |
Leicester
|
15 | -9 | 14 |
17 |
Crystal Palace
|
15 | -6 | 13 |
18 |
Wolves
|
15 | -14 | 10 |
19 |
Ipswich
|
15 | -13 | 9 |
20 |
Southampton
|
15 | -20 | 5 |