Nigel Pearson has confirmed that Bristol City centre-back Rob Atkinson has ruptured his ACL and will miss the rest of the 2022/23 season, but despite accepting the Robins are light on options in his position he has no current plans to bring in a free transfer.
Atkinson sustained the injury as he chased a loose ball towards the touchline of City’s 1-1 draw with Sunderland last Saturday and speaking after the game Pearson suspected it was a serious injury.
Having undergone scans this week the severity of the issue has been confirmed and Atkinson, who has started 25 Championship fixtures this season, will now wait a couple of weeks before undergoing surgery.
The 24-year-old could be out from anything between six to nine months, potentially taking his absence into next season, which is a huge blow to his development, as he’s been one of City’s best and most consistent players of their 11-match unbeaten run but also the team as a whole, given his increased understanding and chemistry alongside Zak Vyner.
“He’s ruptured his ACL so that’s his season done,” said Pearson. “He’s going to have to wait a couple of weeks before he has surgery - that’s normal procedure these days to let it settle down. It’s a blow for him and us but we’ll deal with it.
“Typical Rob, he’s very measured and dealing with it as well as, I suppose, anybody can. One of the difficulties for players who are regular performers is to get their heads around what it feels like to be out for a long time. So we have to give him a bit of time to come to terms with that but he knows he’s in a good place with the support he’ll get here, and the medical care will be exceptional.
"We don’t worry about those sorts of issues and the players know themselves they’re in a good environment to get the best outcome when they’re recovering from any sort of injuries. But it’s a huge disappointment for him and us because the defenders have been playing particularly well; he and Zak have really established a good partnership… but that’s life, I’m afraid.”
As he did at the Stadium of Light, Tomas Kalas will step into Atkinson’s place in the defence to partner Vyner and the Czech Republic international makes for an outstanding replacement, in terms of his ability and experience in the division, albeit with concerns around his durability having experienced groin and knee issues for the last 12 months limiting him to just 130 minutes of action in this campaign.
However, beyond the 29-year-old Pearson is short in such a key position with Kal Naismith not expected back until next month, leaving full-backs Cam Pring and George Tanner and defensive midfielder Andy King as his next senior options, should injury befall Vyner or Kalas.
City did try to sign Crystal Palace defender Jake O’Brien on loan in the January window in anticipation of such a problem arising but unfortunately the Premier League club’s expectations for a loan fee was beyond what the Robins were willing or able to spend.
The situation does call into question the sale of Ryley Towler to Portsmouth, after he had enjoyed a positive first half of the season on loan at AFC Wimbledon, and release veteran Timm Klose but Pearson insists they were the right decisions at the time.
There is the prospect of promoting more talent from within the Under-21 set-up with Duncan Idehen appearing the next man up as Jamie Knight-Lebel and Raph Araoye are presently out injured.
City could also seek to add a free agent outside of the transfer window - although there aren't too many obvious options - but Pearson showed little inclination to do so when asked about it at the High Performance Centre.
“We tried to get another centre-back in the window but couldn’t do it. We’ve got other options there: Pringey has played there, George has played very well when he’s played there, Andy King is an option. But, yeah, we don’t have too many cards to play,” the manager said.
“Not really,” he added when asked about the prospect of a free agent coming in. “I’d rather explore what we have within. Let’s just see how it goes. If things change, I’ll let you know. But, at the moment, that’s not something that I’m particularly looking at.”
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