Connor Wickham is facing three months on the sidelines after another injury blow ruined the Crystal Palace striker’s hopes of a move to the Championship, according to the Sun (18 October, page 61).
The seldom-seen 27-year-old just cannot buy a break right now.
After making 19 league appearances in 2019/20, his largest tally in five years, Wickham would have been chomping at the bit, desperate to kick on and put that relentless series of niggles and knocks behind him at long last.
But, if reports are to be believed, the former Sunderland starlet is unlikely to play again in 2020.
A pulled muscle means three more months of rehab lie ahead, with Wickham denied the chance to escape his Selhurst Park purgatory in the cruellest of circumstances.
The former England U21 international spent the second half of last season on loan at Sheffield Wednesday and another, as yet-unnamed, Championship club were interested in taking him off Palace’s hands over the summer.
But Wickham will now be forced to wait until January, all the while praying that his latest period of rehabilitation goes to plan.
A £7 million signing from Sunderland in 2015, Wickham has been restricted to just four Premier League starts in the last four years.
Crystal Palace’s record signings
- Christian Benteke – £27 million
2016
- Mamadou Sakho – £22 million
2017
- Eberechi Eze – £19.5 million
2020
- Patrick van Aanholt – £14 million
2017
- Andros Townsend – £13 million
2016