New Brentford signing Yunus Emre Konak has suffered an early setback in his Bees career after suffering a hip injury.
The £4million January arrival tore his hip adductor tendons in the warm-up before a friendly against Danish side Brondby last month and is facing months out.
Brentford have high hopes for Konak, an 18-year-old Turkish midfielder who joined from Sivasspor, but his injury will delay his progression from the B team to the first team.
Brentford manager Thomas Frank said on Thursday: “It’s the story of our season. He got injured in the warm-up [before] a behind-closed-doors game against Brondby.
“He had surgery. Yunus, we’re talking about months for him.”
Josh Dasilva’s injury woes have continued, with the midfielder also set for surgery after damaging knee ligaments.
Dasilva missed 12 months between February 2021 and February 2022 with a hip injury, and only returned last month from a hamstring injury he sustained in August.
The 25-year-old, who is out of contract in the summer, has played just five times this season.
Frank said: “In training [he had] an unlucky action, unfortunately. “Let’s get surgery out the way, but I don’t want to put a timeframe on it. That is a long-term one.
“Very sad, I feel for Josh massively. He’s been very unlucky. It’s a player I’ve been working with for a long time. Normally over time your relationship grows, and he’s a lovely person, so that was tough to take.
“Last year he had a season where I think he was available for every single game. Maybe the head coach didn’t give him enough chances, but he did well for us.”
Frank added: “I thought he had a big season ahead of him [this term], but he was very unlucky with a hamstring injury in our second game against Fulham. And then this knee injury. I spoke to him on the day of the injury. The next period we need to give him all the support we can.”
Brentford visit Wolves on Saturday in the fourth meeting between the two teams since December 27. Saman Ghoddos has arrived back at Brentford after Iran lost in the semi-finals of the Asian Cup.
Frank said: “We are happy Saman is back and available for us, but, of course, we would have loved him to go to the final and win. He is coming back today, but he should be available for Saturday.”
