Florin Andone will miss Romania’s Euro 2020 qualifiers after suffering a bad knee injury for Galatasaray, which may also affect his chances of a permanent move. Andone, who is currently on a season-long loan at Galatasaray from Brighton, was injured near the beginning of the Turkish club’s 2-0 away Super Lig win over Gaziantep on Saturday and substituted in the 11th minute.
The Romanian Football Federation have updated supporters on the scale of Andone’s problem by revealing that, following dialogue between the medical staff of the national team and that of Galatasaray, the first diagnosis for the striker is of ‘a partial lesion of the medial collateral ligament of the right knee’.
Therefore, the 26-year-old has been ruled out of Romania’s upcoming matches against Sweden and Spain, but the injury is likely to keep him out for much longer.
The FRF, who earlier stated that Andone was due to undergo an MRI examination in Turkey on Monday to determine the full extent of the injury, now estimate that he will be out for two to two and a half months.
Any lengthy spell on the sidelines could scupper Andone’s chances of earning a permanent move to Galatasaray, although Brighton are understood to want him back at the end of his loan period.
The ex-Deportivo La Coruna hitman has scored two goals in six league starts so far and is a popular option for coach Fatih Terim, who gave him the sole striker’s berth in both of their recent Champions League clashes with Real Madrid.
Seagulls medics will be consulted on the best course of action going forward, but not all MCL injuries require operations and Andone should be back early in 2020 if the lesion is not too severe.
Everton winger Bernard recently suffered a grade two tear of his MCL against Brighton and the Brazilian is expected to be back playing by December.
But sadly, he won’t be able to play any part in Romania’s bid to make it out of a tough Group F and through to next summer’s Euro 2020 finals.
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