Aberdeen midfielder Ryan Hedges looks set to be out for the rest of the season, manager Derek McInnes has revealed.
Hedges ruptured a pectoral muscle in the 2-0 defeat to Livingston on Tuesday night, which saw him replaced after 14 minutes, with the Wales international now heading for surgery in Manchester.
It is a further blow to McInnes, who has lost Scott Wright to Rangers this week and now another of his creative players is sidelined during a difficult spell.
Aberdeen head to Easter Road today to take on Hibernian, in what could be a pivotal game in the push for a top-three spot. The Dons are behind Jack Ross’ side, but could leapfrog them if they win their game in hand.
However, they will have to do it without Hedges.
McInnes said: “We feared the worst after the game – the technical term is he’s ruptured his pectoral muscle off the bone, which is very unusual in football. You can see it in rugby and it’s more familiar in wrestling.
The manager today confirmed in his press conference that Ryan Hedges will likely miss the remainder of the season due to the injury sustained on Tuesday night.
Full coverage from the press conference to follow. pic.twitter.com/5QtgP9hsHe— Aberdeen FC (@AberdeenFC) February 5, 2021
“Effectively it’s ripped off the bone and he’s due to get an operation in Manchester on Friday. The likelihood is he’ll be out for the season, which is a blow for Ryan as he’s been in good form and had a good campaign. It’s a blow for us in terms of that speed and creativity, but we need to deal with that.”
McInnes will also potentially have defender Ash Taylor missing, after he came off on Thursday with a thigh problem.
While forwards Fraser Hornby and Callum Hendry were involved against Livingston, fellow deadline day signing Florian Kamberi was not. He is still to receive a visa allowing him to work in the United Kingdom, meaning he will miss out on a visit to his old side today.
McInnes added: “As it stands, the latest we’ll get him in the country is February 10. We’ve been trying to get a lot of things fast-tracked, but I think the whole Covid situation has gone against that.
“We’ve leaned on everybody we can to try and influence this and get this pushed through, but unfortunately for us that’s not been the case. He may well travel this weekend, but he can’t travel until he’s got his visa to work.
“It was a long shot, we knew that when we signed him. We took three loans in and there is a risk with that. Kamberi had a slight risk attached because we were trying to get him through as quickly as possible.”