Sarcevic out for weeks!

Wanderers captain [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] has been ruled out for 'several weeks' with a hamstring tear.

All the best with the recovery, skipper![You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

— Bolton Wanderers (@OfficialBWFC) [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

Antoni Sarcevic stands to miss “several weeks” of action for Wanderers after scans revealed a tear in him hamstring is worse than first feared.

It had been hoped within the Bolton camp that the club captain would only miss a couple of games after limping out of Saturday’s 1-0 win at Port Vale.

But Ian Evatt has confirmed this afternoon that a further examination into the problem has revealed more damage – and that the 29-year-old stands to miss a significant amount of time.

“It’s not ideal,” Evatt said. “He has a hamstring tear so he will be out for several weeks. I am not going to put a timescale on it yet but he’s out for an indefinite period for now.”

Wanderers could bring Lloyd Isgrove in to replace Sarcevic in the number 10 role after he impressed off the bench against Vale.

But Evatt also has other options in his forward line and is grateful that the injury list is not currently extensive.

“Sarce is captain of the club and has scored some good goals for us this season and he’s a player we’ll miss,” he said. “Fortunately for us we have some good competition and strength in depth in the midfield areas and Saturday gives us an opportunity for someone to stake a claim.

“We have competition all over the pitch right now and his injury has come from fatigue because of the number of games we have had to play of late.

“Hence why the recovery time this week is really important.

“Hopefully now we can get to Saturday and play to the best levels we can. The energy levels have certainly been back today.”

While Evatt believes his work in the transfer market during January has helped compensate for the loss of Sarcevic, he is keeping his fingers crossed that there are no further absences.

“We don’t want to lose any more,” he said. “Yes, we have competition for places but we’ll miss Sarce and we hope he recovers quicker than what the initial analysis of the injury tells us.

"For now, we just want to look ahead to Walsall."

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]