Aberdeen manager Derek McInnes has backed Scott Wright to make a complete recovery as the winger comes to terms with the fact his season is over.
Wright has suffered a cruciate ligament injury in training which has brought his campaign to a premature end but the Dons boss has reassured his player he will recover.
McInnes said: “It wasn’t even a tackle, he just hurt it running the other day.
“We knew he had damaged his knee but we thought it was the cartilage, so it was a shock when the physio phoned. It’s disappointing for us but it’s an absolute killer for Scott.
“He will have to get his head round it now and get on with it. Thankfully it’s not the same as 20 or 30 years ago when it was a career ended, these days lots of players come back from it stronger and better.
“He will be fine longer term. He will have to go for surgery and we’ll know more about that next week.
“Scott is the kind of player who can light up a game, he is maturing and we had spoken about him playing more centrally. He’s a capable player for us at this level, so it’s very disappointing.”
McInnes was watching Connor McLennan come off the bench to score both goals in a 2-1 win for the Scottish under-21s in Croatia when he found out the severity of Wright’s injury.
While saddened by Wright’s setback he was pleased to see McLennan make a major contribution for his country.
He said: “When your players go away you always want them to make a positive impact and come back in a good place.
“He was disappointed not to start but he’s made a massive contribution to what was a very good result.
“So far his season has been a bit stop-start because of his injury so hopefully being away with Scotland will kick start things a bit for him.”
The loss of Wright to a long-term injury is a blow to the Dons boss who is already without central defenders Scott McKenna and Ash Taylor.
Three central defenders – McKenna, Taylor and Mikey Devlin – have all suffered hamstring injuries this season but McInnes believes there is no link between an early return for pre-season and the pattern of injuries.
He said: “Scott will probably be back before Ash because his setback has put him right back to where he was.
“We thought he was through it and had done the bulk of the work, but he won’t play again for a while. It will probably be after the next international break.
“Scott is making progress so he will have a chance before the next lot of internationals.
“We have had three hamstring injuries this season but Ash’s was a lunge in a game, Scott’s was the pitch at Kilmarnock and then Mikey’s was down to his eagerness to get back and pushing himself.
“I don’t think it’s anything to do with the early start to the season we had.”