Carlos Corberan reveals the West Brom injury nightmare for Matt Phillips and Josh Maja is now even worse
Matt Phillips has undergone surgery on his hamstring injury and he will be out of West Brom action for three weeks longer as a result, Carlos Corberan has revealed.
The Baggies boss shared the injury update in his pre-match press conference on 15 December ahead of the visit of Stoke City, while adding that Josh Maja is also going to have to undergo an operation which will extend his absence to “20 weeks”.
Phillips and Maja were both already expected to be out for around four months respectively, but the need for surgery in both cases will extend that to more like five months out each, with the former needing to take that course of action to avoid the risk of a recurrence of the hamstring issue, and the latter because the ankle injury also affects his knee.
Corberan said, via Birmingham Live: “He [Phillips] had the surgery two days ago after seeing the second consultant. The injury affects his tendon, he proceeded to the surgery because it’s the more safe way to fix it, even though it is going to extend by three weeks, normally the risk to re-injure decreases a lot.
“Same situation [with Maja], another necessary surgery, his time is going to increase a little bit more, all the ligaments in the ankle are broken and the tackle affects his knee too. He will be around 20 weeks out from the group.”
Worse and worse
It certainly looks like West Brom fans can discount any meaningful contributions from either of the recently-injured attackers, likely for the rest of the season.
After so long out it would be a surprise to see either thrown in at the business end of a campaign that Corberan expects to be deciding promotion.
Phillips’ hamstring injury came as he pulled up in the defeat by Leicester City and Maja’s ankle ligament damage was a result of a heavy challenge in the subsequent loss at Sunderland as the Baggies went through a miserable week.
Since the lay-offs for both were set to be extensive already the material difference to the team is minimal but the latest timeframes only add to a continual pattern of depressing blows.
Phillips is coming to the end of this deal and there is a possibility that this means his West Brom career is already over, in which case it would be a sad end for the 32-year-old at The Hawthorns.
Maja is at the other end of his time with the Albion but conversely injury has prevented him really getting off the ground yet, as he had just scored his goal for the club after a previous ankle injury and was then lost during his full debut.
The only option Corberan has is to keep looking at the next man up to step in, while hoping for good news on a takeover in time for the January transfer window.
In other West Brom news, a finance expert has reacted to the latest takeover news which he believes will bring “peace and tranquillity” to the fans.