Southampton manager Ralph Hasenhuttl has revealed that Theo Walcott is set to face a prolonged period out of action with a tendon injury in what is the latest fitness blow for the Saints.
The south coast club have endured multiple problems on the injury front throughout the last few weeks, with Jannik Vestergaard having missed seven successive league games with a knee injury. Also, the likes of Walcott, Ibrahima Diallo, Kyle Walker-Peters, Stuart Armstrong and Mohamed Salisu were all ruled out of the weekend defeat at Newcastle United.
Walcott has been an important member of the squad so far this season, with the Everton loanee registering two goals and two assists in his 16 Premier League appearances (Sofascore). However, he has not featured since the 1-0 defeat at home to Aston Villa at the end of January, having been withdrawn with 25 minutes remaining through injury. Takumi Minamino has since been added to the squad on loan from Liverpool.
Speaking to Hampshire Live ahead of Southampton’s trip to Wolves in the FA Cup fifth round, Hasenhuttl confirmed that Walcott is set to be out of action for a while with the tendon injury he picked up against Aston Villa, adding that the setback was part of the reason as to why Minamino’s arrival was needed.
The Austrian said: “Theo, there is a tendon involved so it is quite long. We have a long injury with Walcott so we needed to do something in this position.”
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This is another huge blow for the Saints and it leaves them with just three fully fit options in the wide positions, with Moussa Djenepo, Nathan Redmond and Minamino now needing to avoid any injury issues to prevent Hasenhuttl running out of options out wide. The Austrian just cannot seem to get his squad back together, with this blow coming just as Walker-Peters and Salisu return to fitness.
Walcott has been an impressive performer for most of the season since returning to St Mary’s in October. The 31-year-old has averaged 1.3 shots, 0.8 key passes and 0.9 successful dribbles per game in his 16 league appearances (Sofascore) – better numbers than those put up by Redmond and Djenepo.
Losing Walcott through injury for a long period might even have an impact on whether the Saints look to make the move a permanent one in the summer. It had seemed wise to do that a few weeks ago, but there could now be caution given the winger’s previous injury issues throughout his career.
