Marley Watkins may have played his last game for Aberdeen as Derek McInnes delivered an update on the Bristol City loanee.
The Welshman has been a regular feature since arriving at Pittodrie late in the summer, playing 13 times with two goals. But a return to Bristol City could beckon after picking up an injury.
Watkins was substituted during the weekend’s 2-0 Scottish Cup semi-final defeat with a problem. It has now been confirmed that he has an issue with the tendon in the hamstring.
It will rule him out until January at least with a diagnosis of 8-10 weeks, meaning that a return to Bristol City is likely on the cards. It’s a blow for McInnes as the forward has been a good player for the Dons.
Now they may have seen the last of him. Manager McInnes did provide some ray of light for Pittodrie supporters, however, saying he would like to work with Watkins longer term.
“Unfortunately, the result of Marley Watkins’ scan showed a problem with the tendon in the hamstring and the likelihood is that he will be out for eight to ten weeks,” said McInnes.
“Marley is still with us now, but he will go back down to Bristol City tomorrow and they will reassess him, but there is a feeling that he might need surgery. That will be their decision once they get that second opinion based on the scan results.
“So, we think that he will be out for eight to ten weeks, and with that being said it will be tough for Marley to be back anytime within his loan period, but it is not insurmountable. We will just have to wait and see once we get that second opinion.
“It is a real blow for us. I thought it was a risky outcome from the challenge because his leg sort of jack-knifed on the impact and you could see immediately that he was in distress. So unfortunately for us he is going to be out for a period of time.
“I would love to work to work with Marley (longer term) but there are a lot of factors involved. He is a Bristol City player and for the moment Marley has just got to get himself sorted.
“I said before that we would have a couple of months to look at Marley, but now he will not be in an Aberdeen shirt for a while, it is something we will have to look at further down the line.”