Albion will have to do without their on-loan Brighton winger, Jeremy Sarmiento, for the next four weeks due to a quad injury.
The Ecuadorian was absent from tonight’s 1-0 home win against Sheffield Wednesday because he experienced discomfort in his left leg muscle during a brief appearance against Preston at Deepdale on Saturday.
Manager Carlos Corberan has been cautious about managing Sarmiento’s playing time, given his limited previous experience in regular football. Corberan emphasized the ‘risk’ associated with increasing the young Seagulls player’s minutes, a concern that has been at the forefront of his mind.
Despite Sarmiento’s absence, Albion secured victory against struggling Sheffield Wednesday, thanks to an early goal by John Swift, which pushed them up to fifth place in the Championship. Sarmiento now joins strikers Josh Maja and Daryl Dike on the sidelines, while Grady Diangana was placed on the bench due to recent illness.
Corberan explained, “There’s always a risk when Jeremy plays more minutes because he hasn’t had the habit of playing regularly. He seemed to be recovering well after the game against Millwall, and I had plans to include him in the Preston match.
However, from a muscular perspective, he arrived at Preston with only partial recovery. He experienced some quadriceps pain, which our medical team initially attributed to the fatigue from the game, considering his prolonged absence from playing.”
“That’s why I decided not to start him against Preston and had him on the bench instead. He did play some minutes, but at the end of the game, he felt pain in his left quadricep muscle. He received treatment on Sunday, and when the pain persisted, our doctors conducted a scan yesterday, which confirmed the injury. He will be sidelined from the group for four weeks. It’s a challenging situation.”
With their current unbeaten streak of five matches and consecutive wins, Corberan’s team heads to St. Andrew’s to face Blues on Friday night, marking their final game before the international break.
Corberan expressed his frustration at losing both Maja and Sarmiento, who were key attacking signings during the summer, especially in light of Maja’s ankle injury, which occurred late in a non-penalty incident against Bristol City.
“Losing both Maja and Sarmiento for the next four weeks, the two players we brought in to bolster our attack, is a difficult pill to swallow,” stated the head coach.
“Maja’s injury was an unfortunate accident, and we lost him for eight weeks. Sarmiento’s injury, on the other hand, was due to concerns about his recovery and the risk associated with increasing his playing time.
It’s something I’ve been acutely aware of, given his history of injuries and lack of regular game time. When you push a player like him to play more minutes, you’re taking a gamble. As a club, we need to be extremely cautious to minimize the risk of injury. It’s tough news to digest, as I never want to lose any player.”
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