Everton are worried that centre forward Arouna Kone could be out for the rest of the Premier League campaign after scans by the club doctors have revealed that the Ivorian has suffered a cartilage injury in his knee.
The 29-year-old has not played for the Toffee’s since their 2-1 home league victory against Hull City on the 19th October, in a game in which the powerful striker had to be substituted due to a knee injury, which has stalled his progression at Goodison Park since following Roberto Martinez from Wigan Athletic.
Everton boss Roberto Martinez stated to various media teams:
“We had disappointing news (in that Koné) will need a bit of a period away,” Martinez told evertontv. “We need to give him a lot of support because he was enjoying his role when he came on against Hull and then he got a nasty incident that is going to keep him away for a long time.
“He had a loosened body, a bit of cartilage in his knee, so we need to repair that which will take time.
“We’re going to work on other aspects of his body to get him fully fit and strong so that when he comes back, he is ready to enjoy his football.
“It’s going to be a long spell out and that’s disappointing.
“We’ve got Darron Gibson reacting really well a couple of weeks after (knee) surgery so now he and Arouna are going to work extremely hard to get back before the season ends.
“We need to give them help and support on that side.”
Kone, who enjoyed a successful season at Wigan Athletic by netting an impressive 11 league goals last term after a £6 million move from Spanish side Levente, helped the Latics win the FA Cup at Wembley before following Roberto Martinez to Everton following the club’s relegation to the Championship.
Kone’s injury will be damaging to Everton’s strike force as on loan Chelsea striker Romelu Lukaku picked up a knock in the challenge with Tottenham keeper Hugo Lloris.
“We’re very pleased with Romelu’s recovery,” Martinez said. “We were a little worried on Monday but he reacted well to training and is fully fit to train, which is really good news.
By Ben Reardon
@BenReardon1
