Robbie Kruse's rotten run of injuries continued this week, as VfB Stuttgart announced that the winger would be out for another four weeks.
Squad depth has taken a hit
The struggling Swabians were set to hand the Australian international his club debut this weekend against Schalke 04, only for that to be ruined at the last minute. Stuttgart could have really benefited from a player with real hunger and drive to help out Filip Kostic, who had been supposedly targeted by the Royal Blues only this summer.
Kruse's injury luck is so horrible that it is a credit to the player for continuing to keep going and holding his head high. Since January 2014 he has missed 80 games for Bayer Leverkusen and, now on loan at the Mercedez-Benz-Arena, that looks set to be the case at his new club. Injury ruled him out of the 2014 World Cup, though he was at least part of the Australian squad that won the 2015 Asian Cup.
A poor period for both club and player in almost every way
The torrid time has sent him way down the pecking order for both club and country, with this loan seemingly the answer to both of those problems. A good season may have seen Roger Schmidt put his faith in him to replace Heung-Min Son but that will have to wait until late October, it seems.
Stuttgart have also had their fair share of injury woe recently, with both Mitchell Langerak and Timo Baumgartl currently sidelined. This shouldn't greatly alter the plans of Alexander Zorniger, who is likely to name an unchanged defence of Daniel Schwaab, Adam Hlousek, Toni Sunjic and Emiliano Insua. In the only piece of good news to seemingly come this week will see Przemysław Tytoń return between the sticks after suspension.