Manuel Pellegrini has confirmed that West Ham United midfielder Carlos Sanchez is expected to face a significant spell on the sidelines with knee surgery looming.
The Colombian, a summer signing from Fiorentina, suffered the setback against Macclesfield Town in the Carabao Cup last week, and manager Pellegrini has confirmed the worst.
“Carlos had a problem with his knee ligament, maybe he will need a couple of weeks to be able to have surgery but he needs that,” he told the Daily Mail.
The 5ft 11in [Source: Transfermarkt] midfielder’s absence, coupled with Jack Wilshere’s injury, means that the Hammers only have Mark Noble, Declan Rice and Pedro Obiang available in the middle of the park at present.
OPINION
This is disappointing, if expected, news for West Ham supporters. The Colombian has been anything but a success story since joining the club this off season, but no one likes to see a player go down injured and Sanchez is no exception. The big thing the Hammers are losing is strength in depth as, with Wilshere also out, Pellegrini has no central midfielders to turn to if one of Noble, Rice or Obiang gets a knock or experiences a downturn in form. Sanchez wasn’t going to be troubling the first team with the aforementioned trio in such fine form, but he provided a veteran presence who could be trusted to shore things up off the bench. Surgery is always difficult to come back from so there’s no real timeline on the midfielder’s return, although Pellegrini did mentioned him needing a couple of weeks. That might be a bit optimistic after knee surgery, but the manager will be keen to have him back as soon as possible.
