West Bromwich Albion winger Matt Phillips has suffered a devastating blow which is set to keep him out of the team for several months, head coach Carlos Corberan has officially confirmed.
In the first half of the Baggies’ late 2-1 defeat at home to league leaders Leicester City on Saturday afternoon, Phillips pulled up with a hamstring problem and had to be replaced before the interval by Jonathan Swift.
Phillips has been an integral part of Corberan’s side this season as the West Midlands club recovered from an inconsistent start to the campaign and are currently sitting fifth in the table.
The former Queens Park Rangers attacker has made 19 appearances for the Baggies, scoring three goals and recording three assists while being in the starting lineup in 95% of West Brom’s games this term, according to Transfermarkt.
West Bromwich Albion are closer to promotion back to the Premier League for the first time since being relegated in 2021 than either of the past two seasons, but now Corberan will have to deal with the long-term absence of one of his better players.
Speaking in his recent press conference, the Spanish coach revealed that Phillips will be out for at least four months, admitting how gutted he is to have received the news [quotes via The Express and Star]:
“Unfortunately I have to give the bad news that I’ve suffered a lot, not only because he’s an important player, but you suffer a lot when someone like him who loves his job, the professional he is and the dedication he has suffers an injury, it’s hard for him to accept and us to see.
“He has a 3cm injury in the hamstring, it means 50 per cent of the tendon is involved, now there is a decision to make between surgery or not, but the timing is going to be around four months, even with surgery or not.”
The ex-Huddersfield Town boss continued on to state that Phillips will still have an important role to play in the team, even if the 32-year-old doesn’t return to action until the back end of the season:
“You need to improve your process of training, improving managing the rest with values the players can show you. But the injury was suffered in a simple action – unfortunately, it has affected his hamstring a lot and he’s not going to be with the group the next few months.
“The only thing that we want is that he keeps strong, be focused like he will do to recover because he’s someone important to us even if for only the last months – I want to see Phillips playing with the team again.”
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