Striker Jon Walters will be out for six months having suffered a partial rupture of his achilles during Saturday’s 0-0 draw with Bolton Wanderers. The 35-year-old was forced off shortly after coming on as a sub against his former club.
"One-time skipper Walters rejoined the Blues late in August on loan from Burnley until January and now won’t play again before that spell is due to end.
Walters, who has made just two starts and the weekend sub appearance without scoring, will return to Turf Moor to undergo his rehabilitation.
The Republic of Ireland international, who had missed the match against Brentford having initially suffered an achilles problem in the previous game at Hull, underwent a scan at the weekend, then saw a specialist in London today where he was given the bad news regarding the extent of the injury.
"I’m obviously gutted with the news,” Walters told the club website. "That’s football though. That’s life I suppose as well and while I’m really disappointed, there are a lot of people worse off than me.""
"I’ll work hard and get back to fitness as soon as I can. I’ve enjoyed being back here and I want to wish the club all the best for the rest of the season.”
Speaking after Saturday's game, manager Paul Hurst admitted it was an incorrect call to include Walters.
"Clearly it was the wrong decision to involve him and I’m the one to make that decision," he said.
"But I think Jon would certainly be the first one to say that he trained yesterday [Friday] and said he felt fine.
"We said we’d look at it again in the morning to see if anything developed overnight and he said he felt fine.
"He’s an experienced pro, I’m sure desperate to be involved, but if he didn’t feel he was right he wouldn’t have put himself up for selection."
Walters's injury means Hurt will no longer have to make a decision on which of his six loanees to leave out of his matchday squad with only five permitted.
I’m naturally devastated with the news about my Achilles injury. However bad things may seem at the time, in the grand scheme of life it’s just an insignificant bump and there’s a hell of a lot of people worse off than me. Thank you to @Official_ITFC physios for the great care.– Jonathan Walters (@JonWalters19) September 27, 2018