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Ipswich boss Kieran McKenna has revealed defender Axel Tuanzebe faces months out after he was “very close” to losing his thumb in a freak accident at home before the international break.
Tuanzebe, 26, missed the 4-1 loss to West Ham following the injury and has now undergone surgery which is expected to keep him on the sidelines for an extended period.
“It’s a household accident - very, very unfortunate and very, very serious,” McKenna said. “He was very close to losing his thumb.
“He’s had surgery to repair the tendons in the thumb that was damaged; I think the recovery is going pretty well, but it’s a long-term injury.
“As much as it sounds a pretty innocuous body part regards the game of football, it’s a pretty important body part in human anatomy. He needs to let it recover.
“Of course it’s a loss and a miss. It shows how quickly things can change in football and in life. Thankfully he’s recovering well. The timescale is not definite.
“It could be anything from a few months, maybe a little bit less if the recovery goes well and that’s something we’re in dialogue with different specialists on.”
The Tractor Boys host Everton on Saturday still awaiting their first victory since promotion back to the top flight, drawing four and losing three of their opening seven matches.
The Toffees sit one point and one place above Ipswich in 16th position and, although McKenna is keen to break their winning duck at Portman Road, the Northern Irishman is not putting any added pressure on his squad.
The manager said he had “clear belief” in Omari Hutchinson’s best position going into the match.
The 20-year-old was used primarily as a right winger while on loan at the club in the Championship last season, but has moved to a more central role since Ipswich spent a club-record £18million to make his move from Chelsea permanent in the summer.
While on England Under-21 duty on Tuesday, Hutchinson moved back to the right wing and had a hand in four goals during a 7-0 rout of Azerbaijan.
Asked if that had given him something to think about when it came to Hutchinson’s best position, McKenna said: “Not in Omari’s case, to be honest. He’s been here for 16 months.
“He made around 40 appearances for us last year, maybe 20 of them were as a right winger, maybe close to 20 were as a right 10, with a handful as a left 10.
“So we’ve seen Omari plenty in both positions and we’ve got a pretty clear belief in how we can make him most effective in different games and different scenarios.”
PA
