Sky Bet Championship: Nottingham Forest striker Britt Assombalonga out for 12 months
Friday 13 February 2015 16:47, UK
Nottingham Forest striker Britt Assombalonga has been ruled out for 12 months after knee surgery.
Forest’s leading goalscorer underwent surgery this week and will be out of action for an entire year of rehabilitation.
Assombalonga, who cost Forest £5.5m from Peterborough United in the summer transfer window, has scored 15 goals in 32 appearances this season.
The 22-year-old sustained the injury during the 3-0 win over Wigan Athletic on Wednesday night, in which he had already scored.
He required oxygen and was stretchered from the pitch in the 67th minute of the game.
Manager Dougie Freedman said; "He's scored 15 goals already this season and I feel very confident he would have gone on to score more goals, so I'm really disappointed. I'm disappointed for the lad really more than anything.
"What I've got to do now is work on my coaching. This is a fantastic test for me to coach - to go out there and see if there's any young players in the squad, in the Under-21s or within the existing players, that we can make better and improve.
"It's part of the game, I'm afraid. It's part of the game I don't like. But it's just another reason for me to keep working at my coaching.
"We have a couple of players in the squad who we will have a look at. We have Matty Fryatt, Lars Veldwijk and Dexter Blackstock, who is coming back from his own injury."
Meanwhile, Forest owner and chairman Fawaz Al-Hasawi took to Twitter to insist the club will do everything they can to aid Assombalonga's rehabilitation.
The Kuwaiti businessman said: "I'm sorry to say that Britt will be unavailable for the next 12 months. We will do everything we can to help his recovery."
