Robbie Neilson is confident that Liam Boyce ’s season isn't over after rupturing his cruciate ligament.
The Hearts striker was stretchered off after giving them the lead in Sunday’s 3-2 win over St Johnstone. Boyce was clearly in a lot of pain after his knee went in making a first half tackle, shortly after fellow goalscorer Kye Rowles was also forced off with a suspected broken foot. Both players went for scans on Sunday and the club's worst fears were confirmed when it showed that Boyce had indeed hurt his cruciate.
That type of injury can keep a player out for anything between six months to a year. However, having made a speedy recovery from a similar injury to his other knee playing for Burton Albion in August 2017, making it back onto the pitch in just over 5 months, Neilson is hopeful it’s a similar story this time round.
“It’s a sore one for both guys,” he said. “Liam’s ruptured his cruciate so he’s set to be out for a number of months, which is hugely disappointing.
“Kye Rowles has got an issue with his metatarsal which will keep him out for six to eight weeks. It’s really disappointing from that aspect but we just have to move forward on it.”
“[Liam] did his cruciate on the opposite knee and was back within six months so hopefully that it’s similar with this knee. We’ll help him as much as we can. We’re hoping to get him operated on pretty quickly and then it’s just a case of getting him back.
“Kye was a suspected metatarsal on Sunday and that’s come back with a wee fracture in it. That will be six to eight weeks depending on how it heals.
“He should be back in time to get a number of games before that World Cup. I would expect him still to be in the squad because he’s done extremely well for Australia and also since he’s been here. He’ll be out for hopefully six weeks then we’ll get him back playing.”
Nathaniel Atkinson also went off against the Saints holding his groin, but he could feature in Wednesday night’s Premier SPorts Cup clash with Kilmarnock.“Natty will be fine,” said Neilson. “Potentially for tomorrow, but definitely for the weekend.”
The injuries to Boyce and Rowles will force Hearts to be busier ahead of Thursday’s transfer deadline than had been initially planned. Neilson has since spoken with Ann Budge and admits that loan solutions will be more likely than permanent ones.
“There’s been a lot of dialogue over the last couple of weeks,” he said. “We spoke after the game on Sunday and again yesterday. We had a discussion about what we need to bing in. We’ll need to be a little more aggressive in the market but as I’ve said all along, we want quality, not quantity. We’ll maybe ring one or two more in now.
“It depends on what's available. We’d like to bring permanents in but at this stage of the window, it’s going to be less likely. It’s probably going to be loan deals. We’ll just see what comes up in the next couple of days.”
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