Middlesbrough Head Coach Jonathan Woodgate has confirmed Manchester City loanee Patrick Roberts will miss the next ‘six to eight weeks’ through injury.
Speaking in his pre-match press conference ahead of Middlesbrough’s game against Blackburn Rovers on Saturday, Woodgate confirmed the injury news.
“It’s a real blow,” said Woodgate.
“Patrick is looking at six to eight weeks, which is a real blow.”
Roberts has impressed since arriving on loan from Manchester City earlier this month, along with striker Lukas Nmecha.
“He’s an outstanding player and exactly who I wanted to recruit. Looking at number 10s in this league, he’s one of the best.
The 22-year old limped off in the first-half against Birmingham City two weeks ago. But Woodgate admitted that he was substituted as a precaution, rather than believing it was as serious as it actually is.
“It’s a hamstring injury, we thought initially it was a precautionary thing so it’s disappointing.
“He’ll stay with us for his recovery which I’m pleased about, because I can understand how frustrating this will be for him when he’s just joined a new club.
“Players can get burnt out (but) he hasn’t played a lot of football when he was at Norwich for the first half of the season.”
Roberts has only played a handful of times for Boro, playing four games in all competitions, but will be a huge miss for the Teessiders. Their injury problems are piling up, and have had to rely on youngsters more often than not so far this season.