Blackburn Rovers will be without Scott Wharton until next month, manager Jon Dahl Tomasson has told the club’s official website.
Wharton had started all three of Blackburn Rovers’ games this season until the weekend, with the defender sitting out the 2-1 victory over West Brom on Sunday afternoon through injury.
He came off at half-time in the Carabao Cup victory over Hartlepool United, but this was said to have been tactical rather than due to any injury concerns. Yet after assessing the 24-year-old, he had picked up a calf injury, with Tomasson giving an update today.
Speaking to the club’s official website, he stated that the centre-back is expected to be out for a number of weeks with a view to returning to action next month.
3 Blackburn Rovers players who’ve started the season strongly, according to WhoScored
“I got a surprise after the game [against Hartlepool United] and he was not okay. It is disappointing because this is one of the positions in which we don’t have a lot of defenders,” said Tomasson.
“He is not ready and he won’t be ready for playing on Wednesday or in the whole week. Hopefully we can get him back as soon as possible, but it will take a couple of weeks.”
In his absence, 17-year-old Ashley Phillips was handed his Championship debut. Although he went off in the second-half, Tomasson explained that this was precautionary, with the player going down with cramp and not with something more serious.
A blow to lose Wharton at this time…
Blackburn Rovers are flying at the moment and Wharton has been impressive across all three games they’ve played in all competitions. The centre-back has been integral to their success having helped the side to three wins and three clean sheets during that time.
Given their lack of options and current injury issues, losing Wharton at this time is a huge blow. Although a return date of next month doesn’t seem like too long of an injury layoff, Tomasson’s side have five games to play between now and the end of the month and so he does miss a considerable amount of matches.
Considering their mounting injury list, it could even be an option to dip into the transfer market to fill the void, especially considering there are nearly three weeks left of the window to get a deal over the line if needed.
