The midfield pair both underwent surgery and will miss an extended period of time but boss Derek McInnes says a striker remains his top priority in the transfer window
Kilmarnock boss Derek McInnes insists he couldn’t take risks with midfield duo Brad Lyons and Kyle Magennis after both underwent surgery and will miss much of the remainder of the season.
Despite that, he insists up front is still his main priority in the transfer window and admitted he’s hopeful the pair can both get back to action this term.
After undergoing surgery to address a cartilage problem, Lyons is anticipated to miss approximately 10 weeks of action, while Magennis, a former Hibs player, sustained hamstring strains.
Lyons, who debuted for Northern Ireland in October, received high marks from the coach, who stated: “Brad has done really well from the first minute of pre-season.” Although he didn’t play as many games as he had hoped to during the previous season, he was essential to our success in the latter stages of the season and continued to play.
“He was rewarded with a two-year contract, and we were actively working to extend it; he has been instrumental in helping Northern Ireland become a fully internationalist nation.”
“That’s his cartilage,” he continued. It had been bothering him for a little while, and during a tackle with Dundee, he took a big hit to it. It’s just at the point where surgery was necessary. The best course of action for Brad is to handle it now so that he can return to the game feeling refreshed, but we were going to try and handle it until the end of the previous season.Hopefully, he will still be contributing to the show before its conclusion.
The manager continues, “Kyle’s damaged a different part of the muscle in the hamstring and we just decided for the boy’s sake going forward, rather than just cutting corners, we would just get the operation and that’s what we have done.” Although the 26-year-old’s chances of playing again before the summer break seem fairly high, the news is not quite as good for his midfield partner. We haven’t completely ruled out Kyle returning before the season is out.
Given that the two have been absent for a while, it’s possible that McInnes is strengthening that section of the park in an attempt to launch a European offensive.
However, he maintains that a striker is still the most important player to add, saying: “The forward area comes first, but we’re looking to maybe try and address that profile of midfielder if we can.” I still have to focus on that.
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