West Brom suffer ‘big blow’ as news emerges – BBC WM broadcaster
West Brom have suffered a “big blow” with Semi Ajayi, Paddy McNair, Kyle Bartley and Daryl Dike all sidelined with injuries, according to Steve Hermon.
Speaking in his press conference ahead of Albion’s visit to Luton Town in the Championship on Friday (1 November), Carlos Corberan provided updates on the statuses of Ajayi and McNair, who went off injured in last weekend’s stalemate with Cardiff, as well as Bartley and Dike.
Ajayi needs surgery after injuring his hamstring in the 79th minute of the game against Cardiff and is expected to be sidelined for around four months. McNair also has an issue with his hamstring and will be on the treatment table for as many as two months.
Bartley, meanwhile, has undergone a minor surgery after missing the last two games and will require another four to six weeks to return to action, leaving the Baggies short of options in defence. Dike’s return will have to wait until the end of December after he suffered a setback in training [DOOD].
Reacting to the news, Hermon wrote on X (31 October): “A big blow for the Baggies. Bartley’s ‘surgery’ was more of a minor procedure, which is why he won’t be out as long as McNair and Ajayi.
“Albion can’t recall Caleb Taylor until January. Also, Daryl Dike’s comeback has been delayed until after Christmas.”
West Brom suffer multiple injury blows
The latest injury update from Corberan is indeed a massive blow for West Brom, who are already on a bad run of form that has seen them go six games without a win.
Injuries to Ajayi, McNair and Bartley have left the manager with Mason Holgate and Torbjorn Heggem as his only available senior centre-backs.
Heggem has started each of West Brom’s twelve Championship games at left-back, but will now be forced to play at centre-back for a string of games.
This means the Spaniard might have to start playing Gianluca Frabotta more often despite restricting him to just four cameo appearances in the league so far.
The Baggies will be hoping they had an option to recall Caleb Taylor from his loan at Wycombe, but, as Hermon mentioned, that is not possible.
Therefore, it remains to be seen how Corberan will deal with the injury crisis at the back in the upcoming weeks.
In other West Brom news, Ben Foster has revealed why Steve Clarke sold Chris Wood while he was with the Baggies.
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