Town forward Jack Lankester is set to undergo surgery on his back injury and will require five months of rehabilitation before the Blues have a clear idea of when he will be able to return.
Having made his first-team debut in October last year, Lankester, 19, suffered a stress fracture of his back in January, which ended his breakthrough season early. In total he made five starts and six sub appearances.
The Bury St Edmunds-based youngster returned in pre-season but suffered another stress fracture in the game against Fortuna Dusseldorf at the Interwetten Cup in Meppen, pictured above.
The academy product, who will be a guest on tomorrow's Life's a Pitch, will go under the knife next week before beginning a lengthy period of rehabilitation.
""Jack had a stress fracture in January. After a period of six months’ rehabilitation and further scans, he was cleared by a specialist to return to pre-season training,” Town physio Matt Byard told the club site.
"Unfortunately Jack suffered a subsequent stress fracture against Fortuna. It’s a completely new injury.
Gutted is an understatement.
However I will be using this time to get stronger and prepare myself for a big return 👠Thankyou to everyone for all the messages and I’ll see you back on the pitch soon @IpswichTown 💙🙠https://t.co/prQjmA1UrM— Jack Lankester (@lankester_jack) August 9, 2019
"""Having spoken to leading consultants in the UK and the US, they have advised us that a minimally invasive procedure will help his fracture to heal.
"This is specialist approach to the treatment of a stress fracture and he will have surgery next week.
"He will then have a focused rehabilitation period over the coming months."""He will have a scan after five months and from there we will have a much clearer idea of when he can return to training.”
Lankester's absence for the first half of the season, probably longer, is a further blow for the Blues with Teddy Bishop out for three months with a knee injury and Tristan Nydam sidelined for six months with a broken ankle.