West Brom injury news: Adam Reach ruled out until 2024 after surgery decision
West Brom will be without midfielder Adam Reach until at least 2024 after he suffered a knee injury that requires surgery.
The midfielder suffered an injury just five minutes after coming off the bench in a pre-season friendly against Burton and was forced off in the game.
And according to manager Carlos Corberan, Reach will need to undergo surgery to repair the issue and he will be unavailable for the next four months – ruling him out until 2024.
“With the injury you have two possibilities, make a surgery or a more conservative treatment without the surgery,” Corberan told Birmingham Mail (1 August).
“The difference is about how much the tendon is affected, our medical staff understood the tendon wasn’t damaged enough to proceed with surgery and have treatment of some months.
“Last year we had two cases with the same injury, Phillips and Reach, Phillips was managed with surgery because of the clear affect to the tendon. We’ve suffered the consequence of the injury again. Now he is going to have surgery and in the next four months we are not going to watch him in the team.”
Journalist Joe Chapman wrote on his personal Twitter account that Reach would be “out until early 2024”.
Blow
Reach is definitely not the most talented or important player in the Baggies squad this season, but Corberan is a big fan of him.
His versatility allows him to play as a winger, a wing-back or even in central midfield sometimes and the injury means that the numbers in the squad are weakened even further.
So far Corberan has been able to add Jeremy Sarmiento and Josh Maja to his squad and attacking options, so the squad is definitely stronger than it was last season in that area.
But Reach’s ability to run with boundless energy and his tactical awareness make him someone the manager is a fan of and it will be seen as a blow.
Corberan knows it and the fans may not appreciate it just yet, but Reach’s absence is something that could be felt more once the season really kicks off than it is right now on paper.
In other West Brom news, Premier League club make “final offer” for Baggies star.