Bournemouth boss Eddie Howe says his worst fears have been realised after Charlie Daniels was ruled out long-term with a serious knee injury.
The left-back, who has been on the books at the Vitality Stadium since January 2012, had missed the end of last season with another knee injury and was making just his second appearance of the campaign in last week’s clash with Manchester City.
The 32-year-old was stretchered off during the first half of the 3-1 loss and following scans this week, it has been confirmed that Daniels has suffered a recurrence of his dislocated left kneecap.
Daniels is expected to undergo surgery to correct the issue and the reports coming out of the Cherries camp are that he could miss the majority of the season.
Howe refused to put a timescale on how long they would be without the defender for but is confident Daniels has the necessary “character” to overcome yet another injury blow so soon after the last.
Daniels’ injury continues Bournemouth’s recent bad run of luck with Howe missing as many as eight players for Saturday’s trip to Leicester City.
The south coast side have lost David Brooks, Lloyd Kelly and Arnaut Danjuma since the start of the season, adding to an already crowded treatment room.
Meanwhile, Howe says he will be speaking to goalkeeper Artur Boruc after he was pictured amongst the Legia Warsaw fans when they took on Rangers at Ibrox on Thursday.
The former Celtic goalkeeper was photographed in the away end during the Europa League encounter and could lose his place in the match-day squad as a result of his trip to Scotland.
“It’s something I’ll have to talk to Artur about it,” said Howe. “I only knew about it very late last night, so it’s not really ideal.”
The battle to be Bournemouth’s No.1 is currently being won by Aaron Ramsdale, who has started all three Premier League matches so far.
Boruc has been on the bench for those games but could be replaced against Leicester this week by Mark Travers, who started the EFL Cup win over Forest Green in midweek.
Travers saved three penalties during the shootout and has experience of playing in the Premier League previously, having been handed a chance at the end of last season.
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