Viduka could be out until Christmas

May 9 2008 by Mark Douglas, The Journal

KEVIN Keegan will learn over the next fortnight whether he will lose striker Mark Viduka to injury until Christmas – but he admits the prognosis for the Australian striker is worse than the club first thought.

Initial scans on the Achilles injury that Viduka has been battling since he returned to action two months ago have revealed more damage than had been anticipated.

Although it is premature to predict a six-month lay-off for the forward, he is unlikely to be fit for the start of next season. Newcastle will assess the injury again in two weeks and, if the damage has not healed, the former Celtic, Leeds and Middlesbrough front man is set to go under the knife during the close season – effectively ruling him out of action until the New Year.

It is a big blow for Viduka, who suffered this term due to the lack of a pre-season and has battled a series of injuries since joining United from Boro.

As recently as March, he admitted Newcastle supporters were yet to see the best of him. With Shola Ameobi set to depart St James’s Park and youngster Andrew Carroll still developing as a Premier League player, Viduka’s likely lay-off creates another gap to filled by the club in the summer transfer market.

“Originally, the intention was not to play Mark in last two games or last one game, depending on how he went with his Achilles, and give him an injection which would enable him to recover through the close season to come here for pre-season training,” Keegan said.

“He had a scan yesterday and it is slightly more serious than it was last time, so he has an injection. We are going to monitor it for 10 days to two weeks and then we will know if he needs anything more. If he does, it could then be, it will then be three to six months. If it does not need any more than that, it is really back to where it was, which is maybe he will have to miss a little bit of pre-season but he is not going to be out for, you know, a long period. If it is six months, then obviously it is Christmas.”

Viduka has been playing with the injury for the past three weeks, something which has impressed Keegan. “To be fair to Mark, he has played with a niggle for the past two or three weeks and, to his credit, he has come out and trained every day,” he said.

“We haven’t risked him but, unfortunately, the last game was probably one game too far – at half time you could see he was in some discomfort.”