Tyreece John-Jules is returning to Arsenal for a brief period after undergoing surgery whilst on loan at Ipswich Town.
After netting his third goal of the season in a thrilling 4-4 draw with Charlton Athletic at the end of October, the striker was left out of the Tractor Boys' matchday squad for their FA Cup first round win over Bracknell Town with his absence down to suffering a major tear to his hamstring.
At the time, Ipswich manager Kieran McKenna confirmed that the Gunners loanee was awaiting news regarding an operation: "Tyreece has a hamstring injury and is under specialist review at the moment as to whether it needs surgical repair," he revealed. "It’s quite a major tear which is also very disappointing."
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Subsequently, John-Jules has missed the last two games and was not in contention for the FA Cup second round tie against Buxton on Sunday afternoon. In fact, following confirmation that he's undergone surgery, he may not be available for selection until February next year at the earliest.
As revealed by McKenna, the 21-year-old will now return to Arsenal for the beginning of his rehabilitation period and is expected to finish the process at Portman Road and it could be that by the time he's fully fit, he can help play a crucial role in Ipswich's attempts to seal promotion to the Championship
"Tyreece has had surgery to repair his hamstring so will spend a period of time now back at Arsenal for the initial period of his rehab, which makes sense on a few different levels," McKenna told reporters, as per East Anglian Daily Times. "He'll re-join us in a few weeks when the medical teams agree on the handover of the rehab, but the injury is typically one with three or four months of recovery."
John-Jules becomes the second loanee to be effectively recalled by Arsenal this week after defender Ayr United manager Lee Bullen revealing that central defender Alex Kirk has also returned to his parent club for treatment and rehab after being stretchered off in the closing moments of the 2-2 draw against Inverness last weekend with a suspected fracture of his ankle.
"It's a sore one as Alex has had a real impact and settled into the group fantastically well," he said, as per the Daily Record. "The injury looked so innocuous at the time as he just fell to the turf when the ball came in. He'll be properly assessed down the road and we're hopeful he'll be back playing in two to three months."
Similar to John-Jules, if the best-case scenario is that Kirk is able to resume playing in three months then he's looking at the end of February for a return to action. Although, as things currently stand, he looks set to miss at least 10 games across all competitions as this layoff disrupts his progress.
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