Republic of Ireland manager Martin O’Neill has confirmed that Everton right-back Seamus Coleman has suffered a broken foot while on international duty.
Coleman, 29, broke his leg while playing for Ireland last year, and now he looks set for yet another spell on the sidelines after a scan confirmed that he has a stress fracture in his foot.
The Everton first teamer, who has played all four Premier League games this season. missed Ireland’s 1-1 draw with Poland on Tuesday night, and after the game, O’Neill announced the details of his injury blow.
“Seamus went for a scan. He has a little stress fracture, which is a concern. He could easily have got a flight home, but he stayed with the team,” O’Neill told RTE Sport, as quoted by the Daily Mail.
“He is a great captain, a really great captain. He is inspirational and obviously we hope he is back in time for the games coming up.”
OPINION
What is it with Everton players and Ireland? Coleman and James McCarthy consistently pick up injuries while on international duty and it is really unlucky that the club is having to deal with this on a regular basis. Missing Coleman for the coming weeks is going to be a massive blow for Marco Silva. His side have started the season without a defeat in their first four games and are not going to be helped out by this latest set-back for Coleman, who himself has only recently returned from a 10-month lay-off after breaking his leg against Wales last year. As it stands, the likely replacements for the 29-year-old are Jonjoe Kenny and Mason Holgate, although Silva does have a number of centre-backs who can play on the right if he needs them to. The Toffees could have probably done with signing another right-back in the summer but this is now something that they will have to deal with.