West Brom news as Kyle Bartley ruled out for five weeks with injury blow
West Brom manager Carlos Corberan has revealed there is “no positive news” regarding the injury to defender Kyle Bartley, who could now be sidelined for up to five weeks, Express and Star reports.
The defender, who played an integral part of Corberan’s first four games as manager in the West Midlands, suffered a thigh injury during the World Cup break – and has been out ever since.
Despite being ahead of schedule and training last week, a fresh scan has revealed the 31-year-old will remain on the Hawthorns medical table for several more weeks.
Speaking to the Express and Star, the Spanish manager said: “There is no positive news, and we are not going to have him for the next three weeks.
“The injury has had a negative impact on his progress. He had a scan at the beginning that said he wasn’t ready to compete in the next few weeks, but his feeling wasn’t that one.
“He was feeling fine to be ready. Then with the scan, we had the other day, we confirmed he needs more time with the medical staff to manage the injury, it has not progressed as we expected. So we are not going to have him for the next three to five weeks.”
Marching on
Although the new injury to Bartley is unfortunate, the West Brom train continues to roll onwards in his absence.
Corberan has masterminded a quite miraculous turnaround at the Hawthorns since the sacking of Steve Bruce in October, winning seven of his last eight Championship matches and catapulting the Baggies on the precipice of the top six.
His defence has been the foundation he has built his short-term success on, with the 2-0 win against Preston marking 12 hours of football without conceding an open-play goal.
A sixth clean sheet in eight games marked a defence that seems to be coping just fine without Bartley, and a run which could see the defender sent packing in the summer.
With Semi Ajayi, Erik Pieters and Dara O’Shea all having shone in the Englishman’s absence, he will do well to force his way back into Corberan’s plans in the closing stages of the season.
In other West Brom news, an English star was greeted with a ‘Rapturous’ applause from West Brom fans after his brilliant performance against Preston.