West Bromwich Albion manager Valerien Ismael has warned that defender Kean Bryan may be out for an extended period of time with a knee injury, providing this latest update to the Baggies' media team.
Bryan, 24, arrived at The Hawthorns in September in the midst of an injury crisis, with Matt Clarke out with a hamstring injury at the time and Dara O'Shea sustaining a fractured ankle, although it took some time for him to get up to match fitness after arriving in the West Midlands.
He was linked with a move to the Baggies in the months before that, also being the subject of interest from the likes of Watford, Fulham, Swansea City and Middlesbrough with the defender remaining reluctant to put pen to paper on fresh terms with Sheffield United.
Amid reported talks with Boro and continuous stalling on the new deal, the Blades withdrew their contract offer and he was unable to find a club before the start of the campaign.
He had seemingly settled down well at The Hawthorns and looked set to play an important role with those injuries, but only went on to make two very short cameos before making his maiden start in midweek.
Unfortunately, he lasted just 40 minutes despite bravely attempting to continue, being replaced by Adam Reach.
In a latest update from manager Ismael, he believes Bryan may be out for a while, saying: "Unfortunately, it looks like it could be a bad injury.
"We don’t know yet because we need to get some more scans in to make sure we know exactly what is going on with his knee.
"We’re concerned about the injury, but we just need to wait and see what the scans come back with.
"Hopefully it won’t be as bad as we expected."
The Verdict:
After only making his first start in midweek, this is a real blow for Bryan who is already a decent chunk through his career.
At 24, there's still plenty of him for him to be successful and reach the Premier League again, but he only made his first-team breakthrough at the Blades last season and will need to try and stay fit for as long as possible if he wants to make the grade at West Brom.
With O'Shea still likely to be out for another two or three months yet and Cedric Kipre not really fancied by Ismael, this was the opportunity for him to establish himself as a starter, but the early prognosis doesn't look good.
After only signing him a couple of months ago, the Baggies will be hoping he hasn't sustained severe ligament damage, because that could take a long while to recover from and he would only have a limited amount of time to impress after that as he only signed a two-year deal on his arrival.
Thankfully for Ismael's men, Semi Ajayi and the returning Kyle Bartley are both potential replacements that the Frenchman could utilise. The latter is almost certain to come straight back into the first 11 as an experienced and commanding figure in defence.