Sam Lavelle suffered a serious injury to his groin in Charlton Athletic's crucial 1-0 win at Sunderland last time out and had surgery on it this week.

The 25-year-old has been one of the only players to take credit from the Addicks' terrible start to the season in League One and will be sorely missed in the months ahead. Johnnie Jackson was hesitant to set a date on Lavelle's return but it is expected to be a minimum of three months.

The former Morecambe captain sent the following message to Addicks fans on Twitter this morning.

He said: "Just finished my surgery, everything went well which I'm happy about, I've seen all your comments on social media which I'm grateful for so thanks for that. I've enjoyed my time at Charlton so far and I love playing at The Valley so hopefully I can continue that as soon as possible."

Lavelle's career is on a rapid upward trajectory after playing a key role in Morecambe's promotion to the third tier last season and establishing himself in the South Londoners' first team at the start of the season. 18-year-old centre back Deji Elerewe will likely get the chance to showcase his potential alongside Akin Famewo in Lavelle's absence.

The Verdict

This is an enormous blow for the Addicks, the Lavelle-Famewo partnership was getting stronger week by week and the former's leadership qualities have really come to the fore in testing times in the last month or so.

Charlton host fellow bottom four side Doncaster Rovers in a relegation six pointer on Saturday. Jason Pearce came on for Lavelle in the first half at the Stadium of Light and will likely keep his place at The Valley but in that the backline will lose some pace and composure on the ball.

Charlton supporters will be desperate for Lavelle to have a swift recovery and retake his place at the heart of their defence as soon as possible.