West Ham midfielder Josh Cullen has been dealt a crushing blow as he needs shoulder surgery and faces up to four months out as a result.
The 22-year-old central midfielder, who is currently on loan at Charlton, dislocated his shoulder during the League One’s side 2-0 victory over Walsall and manager Lee Bowyer has since provided an update.
“Josh needs an operation, so he’s going to be maybe three or four months from what I hear,” said Bowyer, as quoted by London News Online.
“Igor ( Vetokele) we won’t know much until Friday because he hasn’t had his MRI scan yet. I’m guessing he is going to be similar because he had to go to hospital [after his dislocation].
“Josh has done something to his bicep as well, The physio went a bit technical with me. He will be seeing a specialist in the next couple of days to go through stuff.”
Cullen has been regularly featuring for Charlton this season and made nine appearances, assisting two goals in the process, this season ahead of getting injured.
OPINION
This is an absolutely crushing blow for Cullen as he has been impressing by all accounts at Charlton. Also given that Bowyer also reveals that the player has to see a specialist regarding potential damage to his bicep as well as shoulder surgery, it doesn’t look good. The promising midfielder’s season may have been dramatically cut short and it’s such a shame for him. The 22-year-old went on loan clearly motivated to return able to break into Manuel Pellegrini’s first-team plans, but this news suggests that he faces an uphill task doing that now. When you consider that he’s out for at least four months, then he has to get fit in order to feature after a long spell out, he might not be available until April. Hopefully the surgery goes well for Cullen and he defies the odds to return quickly because as it stands, you do feel sorry for him.
