Newcastle United-linked midfielder Florian Wirtz looks set for months on the sidelines after he suffered a torn ACL.
The German youngster suffered the injury for Bayer Leverkusen in their game against Cologne yesterday.
Wirtz, 18, went down as he was challenging Luca Kilian and the starlet received treatment for several minutes before being stretchered off.
It is a horrible situation for Wirtz, who is without doubt one of the brightest prospects in all of German football.
The teenager had been enjoying a tremendous campaign, having scored 10 goals and made 14 assists in just 30 appearances.
It is a hammer blow for Bayer, who are looking to secure Champions League football for next season.
They are currently third, but have RB Leipzig, Freiburg and Hoffenheim all behind by just a single point.
It remains to be seen if Wirtz’s absence will cost them.
It is a huge shame that football will be without him for a while, and it is very possible that the player – who has been valued at around £70 million (The Mirror, 26 December, pg 78) – will now be staying put with Bayer this summer.
He had already been drawing attention for his performances, and Newcastle were actually linked with Wirtz shortly after the takeover went through back in October.
Apparently Newcastle sent a scout to watch Wirtz in action in the reverse fixture against Cologne.
If Newcastle still had him on their radar ahead of the summer, they may now need to take him off as he works back from this serious injury.
Newcastle can forget about signing Florian Wirtz this summer as youngster suffers awful ACL injury
Newcastle may have fancied moving for Wirtz this summer, but it’s difficult to see the player making a move anywhere now after his awful ACL injury.
According to Dr Rajpal Brar, DPT (@3cbPerformance), the youngster is looking at around 7-9 months out.
It is such a shame for Wirtz to be hit with such a bad injury while he is still so young.
Hopefully he can come back from this setback and get back to amazing the level he has been at over the past months.
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