Carlos Corberan delivers significant West Brom injury blow to Kyle Bartley
West Brom head coach Carlos Corberan has announced he will be without defender Kyle Bartley for up to five weeks.
The defender has not featured since before the World Cup break after suffering a quad injury in a friendly match against Elche and was sent for a scan to determine the damage of the injury and the length of time he would be out of action.
Bartley has endured a disrupted campaign so far but was beginning to find some consistency and form before his latest injury blow, establishing himself as a pivotal part of Corberan’s defence and even bagging two goals in as many matches during Albion’s current revival.
Providing an update on the defender’s situation, the former Huddersfield manager stated, via Birmingham Live: “It’s not positive news. We are not going to have him for the next three weeks. The fact that he was trying to accelerate his recovery from injury has had a negative impact in his progress. He had his first scan and it [the results] wouldn’t allow him to be ready for four weeks, but his feeling was not that one and he felt fine and ready to help the team.
“With the scan we did the other day, it has confirmed that he must spend more time with the medical staff because the injury has not progressed in the way we expected it to progress. We are not going to have him now for between the next 3-5 weeks.”
Corberan will have to adapt
It’s certainly not good news for the Albion faithful, considering Bartley’s major importance to their surge towards the promotion places in the Championship table. The 31-year-old is a pivotal figure in the dressing room, and a leader on the pitch, and how the club deal with this injury will be intriguing to see.
The defender was in excellent form before the World Cup break, aiding the club’s cause with two goals in wins over Queens Park Rangers and Stoke City, but the mark of a good manager is one who manages to adapt and work wonders with what he has at his disposal, so Corberan will certainly have to adapt to the situation.
He’s been forced to name a makeshift defence pairing of Dara O’Shea and Erik Pieters in the six league games after the World Cup and his side has coped rather well winning five of their six matches. But, in such a crucial month coming up, Corberan’s side will certainly be tested further without such a key figure in Bartley.
If they can come out of these next five weeks in a similar vein of form, then Bartley certainly won’t be missed at all.
In other West Brom news, Albion could be set to recall this player from a loan after his manager was sacked.