Wolverhampton Wanderers have been dealt a major blow after it was confirmed that Yerson Mosquera had suffered a serious knee injury.
During the second half of Saturday's West Midlands derby with Aston Villa, the centre-back required several minutes of treatment after being injured in a challenge with Morgan Rogers.
Mosquera was subsequently stretchered off and Wolves went on to lose 3-1, their fourth defeat in five Premier League matches since the beginning of the new season.
However, the bigger blow came through the injury sustained by the Colombia international, it clear at the time that he faced the prospect of missing the rest of the season.
On Tuesday afternoon, Wolves confirmed that is likely to be the case, suggesting that the injury was as severe as they had suspected.
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What have Wolves had to say?
Speaking to the club's official website, head of high performance Phil Hayward admitted that the 23-year-old is unlikely to play any further part of 2024-25.
He said: "Yerson has now had all of the various assessments and scans which unfortunately confirm injuries to the medial collateral ligament (MCL) and the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL).
"We will be visiting specialists in the coming days to finalise the plan for surgery; this will take place in the next two weeks.
"Clearly there is a long recovery period ahead for Yerson, and the club will be providing all the support he needs to ensure a successful rehabilitation and a return to competition in due course.
"Timescales are difficult to state prior to surgery but it is highly unlikely he will feature again this season."
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How bigger blow is this for Wolves?
Gary O'Neil is already allegedly facing a battle to keep his job at Molineux and losing his first-choice defender is arguably one of the biggest blows that he could have faced.
Mosquera was ultimately used as Max Kilman's replacement in the summer, O'Neil and Fosun International opting against signing another centre-back once they had missed out on their primary targets.
He had started every Premier League game thus far, but O'Neil must now turn to Craig Dawson, Toti Gomes and Santiago Bueno to fill the void until January.
Unless Bastien Meupiyou is promoted to the senior fold, O'Neil may have to consider turning to Mario Lemina to provide further cover, either in a back four or the right side of a back three.
Wolves are not in a position where they can sign a free agent with no spots being available in their squad.
