Erol Bulut dealt seismic injury blow as Ramsey ruled out for months and Cardiff City star goes under the knife
The manager gave an update on the lengthening list of injured Bluebirds players
Erol Bulut has issued a miserable Cardiff City injury update in which he stated that Aaron Ramsey will be out for at least two months, which means the Wales captain will miss the rest of the qualifying campaign.
Wales manager Rob Page on Wednesday said he was “confident” Ramsey, 32, would be available for the national team’s November camp, after it was confirmed he was out of next week’s games against Gibraltar and Croatia. However, Bulut has bad news for Cardiff fans, confirming he would be out for eight to 10 weeks, without surgery, due to his knee injury, however if he does go under the knife it will add a further three months to his recovery.
“Today I will tell you a little bit more about injuries. Aaron, we were talking about how many weeks he would be out, we were waiting also. But hopefully without surgery, he will be out at least eight to 10 weeks. If he does get surgery, it will be up to 12 weeks. If something happens in these weeks, it will add 12 weeks.” Bulut said on Thursday afternoon. To get the latest Bluebirds news sent straight to your inbox, sign up here.
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You could see, when he was on the field, he was great. He linked the game. We will miss him. But also, we have to manage with the players we have to continue to get wins.”
It means Ramsey will not only miss the Croatia Euro qualifier, but the Armenia and Turkey games in November. A big blow for not only Cardiff but Wales, too.
And when it rains it pours on the injury front for Cardiff City. Bulut confirmed that Callum O’Dowda, who has played just four times this season, is also out for up to three months after he underwent an operation on a groin injury.
“We also have O’Dowda, he will be away 10 to 12 weeks, because he had surgery because of his tendon,” he added. “We saw at the start of the season what he gave us. We will miss him. But on the other side we have to push our players who haven’t played so much. Now they will get their chances to perform.”
And to add insult to injury, Yakou Meite and Kion Etete are set for a month out with hamstring injuries. Meite picked up his against Rotherham United last weekend, while Etete hobbled off in the defeat at Middlesbrough in midweek. “Yakou Meite will be away for a month and Kion Etete also for a month, from the last game. So I have four main players from the squad I cannot use,” Bulut added.
It’s horrendous news on the injury front, but there are two, tiny morsels of positivity on to which Cardiff fans can cling. Jamilu Collins looks set to return against Watford on Saturday, after missing the midweek trip to Teesside, while Josh Bowler has returned to training and might also be in contention. Given the injury troubles, it seems the international break is coming at a good time for Bulut.
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“For sure!” he said when asked if he was looking forward to his squad getting some respite. “But even the two weeks won’t help to get them back. We have to go into the break with a positive result. The fans push us at home. I hope the fans will help us perform well to get us three points.
“All the players will have to be ready. We have 25 players including goalkeepers. Everyone has to be ready, even some of the young players who have been training with us have to be ready. Now the time has come where we have to count on the players, so they have to show it now on the field.”
