Motherwell player Joe Efford will miss “several months” of football with an injury picked up in training last week.
The Fir Park club revealed on Friday that the American will require immediate surgery after a scan revealed a tear in his quad.
The winger was on an “impressive” run of form before picking up the injury that ruled him out of the defeat to Rangers at Fir Park.
Motherwell say the 26-year-old went under the knife on Tuesday and isn’t expected to return to first-team action until into the new year.
Manager Steven Hammell said: “It’s a big blow for Joe as his recent performances have been really impressive.
“We were just starting training and Joe felt something in his thigh after taking a shot. Sadly, it was worse than we feared, and he has now had surgery to correct it.
“We will support him as much as we can and look forward to getting him back in 2023.”
Meanwhile the club also confirmed that Louis Moult saw a specialist last week on a troublesome ankle issue.
They are hopeful the forward, who is on loan from Burton Albion, will be back in action and able to play again within the next week to ten days.
Long-term absentees Nathan McGinley and Jake Carroll are making progress, but neither are expected back for the foreseeable future. Rolando Aarons is currently with his parent club.
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