Ipswich Town boss Kieran McKenna has provided an injury update ahead of tomorrow’s clash against Leicester City, with Chiedozie Ogbene’s knock unfortunately looking as bad as was first feared.
The winger went down without any contact during last week’s 4-3 defeat to Brentford, which saw him stretchered off just minutes after the Blues went 2-0 up.
McKenna revealed after the game that it was believed to be an Achilles injury, which he confirmed in his pre-match press conference.
“Chieo had surgery yesterday,” he said. “It was an Achilles tear, so the surgery went well.
“He’s a really positive guy, he’s in good spirits, but of course with that type of injury it means that it’s unlikely that he’ll play much – if any – football this season.
“A lot of it will be preparing for next season. Anything beyond that will be a bonus.”
There’s light at the end of the tunnel elsewhere, however, with Sam Morsy set to return to the matchday squad to face the Foxes tomorrow. That being said, it remains to be seen what his involvement is in the game.
“He’s trained today, so we have to make a judgement,” McKenna explained. “He’s missed since the Everton game, really.
“He’s done one session, so he should be available for the squad, but he in terms of minutes, we’ll have to make the judgement call with him. That conversation will be later on today.
“Ben [Johnson] also trained a little bit today and did some set plays yesterday. Again, we’ve got some judgement calls to make on that one. He’s been out for quite a while, limited training. It’s going to be an intense game.
“Also, he’s in a position where we need support at the moment. We’ll make that call later on, chatting to the ones later on who’ve had the session.”
McKenna added that Massimo Luongo is making good progress with his ankle injury while Dara O’Shea continued to play through a back injury.
Omari Hutchinson has recovered from illness and is available, while the other injured players – Axel Tuanzebe, Jacob Greaves and Jack Taylor – are unlikely to return before the November international break.
“Massimo has trained today, so it’s not impossible that he could be involved before the international break,” McKenna revealed.
“Dara O’Shea has been playing with a pretty severe back injury. He’s shown a lot of courage to be out there every week.”
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