Ralph Hasenhuttl has confirmed that Cedric Soares could miss up to three weeks of action after revealing the right-back had injured ligaments in his knee.
Speaking to Southampton’s official website ahead of tomorrow’s FA Cup clash against Tottenham, the Austrian manager admitted that Cedric’s injury sustained against Crystal Palace on Tuesday could keep the fullback out of action until mid-February, with Hasenhuttl also announcing that Jannik Vestergaard and Shane Long will be out for Saturday’s game.
Hasenhuttl said ahead of tomorrow’s fixture: “Cedric is out for three weeks maybe with a ligament injury in the knee. Jannik (Vestergaard) is also out because he has a concussion from an elbow he hit. (Shane) Long also has a swollen knee so is not able to play at the weekend. So, we have three automatic changes to the starting eleven.”
Is the defence the number one area Ralph must improve this window?Yes, we leak in too many goalsNo, things are starting to turn around for us |
The update to Cedric could cause Southampton problems for the next few weeks with no recognised right-back at Southampton being fully fit, with Yan Valery also out on the sidelines with a viral infection that has kept the youngster out of first-team action for some time, meaning Hasenhuttl could be forced to dip into the transfer market with just over a week of the window left.
The former RB Leipzig manager has previously admitted via Sky Sports News that he was looking at bringing in a fullback this month, with Nottingham Forest youngster Matty Cash and KRC Genk defender Joakim Maehle both being linked with moves to Southampton in recent weeks as reported by Sky Sports News.
Injury to Cedric could force Hasenhuttl into spending late in the January transfer window, yet with the Austrian already looking for new signings this month, the setback for the Portuguese defender could have opened the door for the Southampton boss to invest in a defender who could replace the out-going Saints no. 2 in the future.
