Swansea City midfielder Ki Sung-Yueng will miss the start of the Premier League season with a knee injury.
The South Korean international has undergone a minor surgery in his homeland.
The club’s doctors have visited Ki, and he will return to training after the team has come back from it’s pre-season tour of America.
The details
The club haven’t said what kind of surgery Ki has had, or on what part of the knee but it is not good news for Swansea.
Only recently was it confirmed that last season’s top scorer Fernando Llorente will also miss pre-season after he fractured a bone in his arm.
Ki picked up the injury on international duty in South Korea’s World Cup qualifier against Qatar.
A statement released by the club said that “although no date has been set yet for his return to action, the injury is not expected to keep him out long-term.”
What does this mean for Swansea and Ki?
This will be very bad news for Ki himself, after returning to the set-up under Paul Clement.
Ki had been out of favour for a while, before being inserted into Clement’s diamond system, where he would play on the right of the midfield three.
He is in direct competition with Leroy Fer for that spot, and the Dutchman will now have a significant advantage having a pre-season under his belt and will likely start the season in that role away to Southampton on August 12th.
For the club, it could mean an extra push to bring midfield reinforcements in. Reports have said that a deal to bring Las Palmas midfielder Roque Mesa to the club are close, but this would have happened regardless of Ki’s injury.
However, recently Chelsea’s Nathaniel Chalobah has been strongly linked with a move to South Wales, with reports claiming that Clement wants to link up with the holding midfielder again.
A midfield containing Tom Carroll, Chalobah and Mesa could be very exciting, and a return to ‘The Swansea Way’ which has diminished over the years.