Fulham winger Manor Solomon will have surgery on his injured knee in the coming days, head coach Marco Silva confirmed during this afternoon’s press conference.
The Israeli international, who only made his debut on Saturday as a substitute in Fulham’s 2-2 draw with Liverpool, has reportedly torn his meniscus in a behind-closed-doors friendly against Chelsea the following day. Reports from Solomon’s homeland suggest the former Shakhtar Donetsk winger could miss between two and three months of football, although Silva said the length of his exact absence will depend on the success of the surgery and Solomon’s rehabilitation.
“It is his knee. Last Sunday in the session. He will probably have surgery in the next few days. But it looks like he’ll be a long time injured. Let’s see, I think it’s better we wait for the surgery, and after we will know more details about it.”
Solomon joins Harry Wilson on the Fulham injury list after the Welsh winger was also suffered a knee problem in a friendly against Aston Villa. Silva estimates Wilson could miss as many as ten games.
“We have to see week by week. Let’s see what will happen. It doesn’t look so long as Manor Solomon, but six, eight weeks it could be. It’s a long time injured for us. We’re talking about probably 10 games.”
The absence of those wide players means Fulham will likely enter the transfer market for replacements, although Silva would not be drawn into commenting on reports that the Whites were close to concluding deals for former Chelsea and Arsenal winger Willian as well as Justin Kluivert.
“We are talking about many games that we cannot just have two wingers to play. Bobby [Decordova-Reid] and Neeskens [Kebano], they did really well (against Liverpool), but we cannot, at this level, not have solutions on the bench for that position. They are able to do it, of course, but it’s a position we normally have to put fresh legs on in a match. Even if they are performing really well, normally you need fresh legs in that position.
It is a position that we demand a lot from, the players in that position, with the way we play. We can adapt some players to there, but it’s not the same thing and it is of course something urgent for us.”
Awful news for Solomon and lets hope all goes well but equally this is a chance for Kebano to shine at highest level . He was sidelined by Parker last time but Marco recognized his abilities . Played well against Liverpool – hit the post and did some very good crosses .