Town boss Kieran McKenna says keeper Christian Walton will be out for “a few months rather than a few weeks” having sustained a plantar fascia tear, but better news is that Massimo Luongo, Nathan Broadhead and Cameron Humphreys will travel to Sunderland, while Harry Clarke is back in training.
Walton picked up the injury in pre-season and missed last Friday’s friendlies in Austria. Subsequently, speculative reports claimed the 27-year-old would be out for up to the first six matches, however, the news, once the former Brighton man had seen a specialist on Wednesday, proved even worse.
"Of course it’s a blow for Christian because he was really looking forward to the season and going to test and show himself again at this level,” McKenna said at his first pre-mathc press conference of the season.
"And any team would miss Christian’s qualities that he brings, but Vaz [second-choice Vaclav Hladky] has been terrific for us on and off the pitch in the 18 months I’ve been here. Of course, he played in my first game, showed his qualities, kept a clean sheet.
"I thought he was terrific in pretty much every game he played last season, in the FA Cup, the Carabao, he didn’t have a lot to do but also in the Papa Johns as well.
"I think he was terrific in every game he played. He’s got his own qualities and his own strengths that he brings to his team and showed them last season, he shows them every day in training and he’s an important member of the group.
"That’s football, you have injuries, you have setbacks over the course of the season and that’s why we have a squad and why we have goalkeeping department, so that others are ready to step in when the opportunities come.
"It’s going to be more like a few months than a few weeks. It’s a longer term one. He’s had a tear in his plantar fascia, which is a strange injury for any footballer to get, and certainly for a goalkeeper to pick it up in a pre-season friendly is very unusual.
"But it is what it is, he’s getting the best care and treatment, he’s got his treatment plan now, he’s been to see the specialist, there’s no surgery required, it’s just a matter of rest and no doubt Christian will come back stronger for the experience and no doubt that as a team we’ll be absolutely fine.”
Regarding Luongo (groin) and Broadhead (quad), McKenna says they’ll travel to Sunderland.
"They’ve all returned to training today, so they’re all available to travel,” he said. "We’re going to bring a few extra because we’ve had some niggles. We’ll bring a few extra to Sunderland and we’ll make the decisions if not Sunday then after training tomorrow on who’s going to be available for what minutes.
"They’ve all returned to training this week, which is a big positive, which means that Christian Walton is the only player in terms of injury not available for the first game.”
Clarke is suspended having been red-carded on the final day of last season at Fleetwood, but would probably have missed out anyway due to the achilles problem he has been suffering with since last season. However, the former Arsenal man has joined in with the rest of the squad.
"He’s in the group, he returned to some training with the group this week, so looks to be going in the right direction,” McKenna said. "Let’s see how that continues and whether he’ll be available for some minutes next week.”
The Blues boss is likely to pick from Janoi Donacien or Dominic Ball at right-back at the Stadium of Light.
"A good position to be in, we want to be strong across all positions with at least two, and with how Dominic’s done in pre-season it gives us currently three in that position, two available for this weekend,” he said.
"That’s the strength we want to have across all positions because it’s a long season and we’re going to need a strong squad and we’re strong in that position and whoever plays the minutes across this weekend, I’m sure will go and do a good job for the team.”
Cam Humphreys has trained again this week following his absence due to concussion protocols.