Schalke's Swiss forward Breel Embolo will miss six months of the club's season after he broke his left ankle in an away game against Bundesliga side FC Augsburg yesterday.
The game ended 1-1, after Daniel Baier cancelled out loan signing Nabil Bentaleb's 65th minute goal eight minutes later. Embolo was stretchered off in the 25th minute of the game at the Augsburg Arena, as Schalke failed to get their second win of their season.
A massive blow
The Swiss youngster was later taken to the hospital to get an x-ray done, which revealed that the injury he had sustained was a rather serious one and will keep him out for around six months.
The tackle by former Bayer Leverkusen left-back Kostas Stafylidis also ruptured Embolo's syndesmosis and caused a medial collateral ligament injury, apart from merely breaking his ankle. However, doctors suggest that a more accurate prognosis of the injury and a return date can be told after two months.
Schalke sporting director Christian Heidel told the club's official website: "Everyone at Schalke is shocked by the injury. We’ve all seen how strongly Breel identifies with the club and, at just 19 years of age, has already developed into a very important player."
He added, "We’ll give Breel all the support he requires so he can come back stronger from this serious injury and pick up where he’s left off."
A shining light
The injury comes after Embolo had captured some form, following Schalke's horrendous start to the new campaign under Markus Weinzierl, who referred to Stafylidis' tackle as being 'stupid' after the game.
Embolo, who joined Schalke this past summer from Swiss giants FC Basel for a €22 million fee, had scored twice during Schalke's impressive 4-0 win over André Schubert's Borussia Mönchengladbach two weeks ago.
He becomes the second summer acquisition to have succumbed to an injury, after Coke had suffered a serious knee injury only a week after signing from Europa League champions Sevilla.