Sheffield Wednesday have been without their star man for the past two months.
Carlos Carvalhal says he hopes to have Fernando Forestieri back in January, but admits for the first time that the Sheffield Wednesday attacker could sit out much of the campaign.
Forestieri has been missing since August with a knee injury, on which he recently underwent surgery.
The Argentina-born player was initially ruled out for a minimum of three months, and has been posting seemingly positive updates via his Instagram account, which show him taking part in daily gym sessions in Spain’s capital, Madrid.
But when asked how far away Forestieri is from returning for Wednesday, who have lost four of their last five Championship fixtures, Carvalhal told the club’s official Facebook page: “[It is] the worst surgery to a player, that situation in the knee.
“I don’t know the timings. What I know is he’s doing well on the process. The steps that he must give he’s giving, so everything is OK. But we don’t have a time [for when he will be back], because usually that surgery can be six months, eight months, can be sometimes four months also.
“We have some expectations that he will be back in January. I’m just telling you about my feeling that in the new year we will be with a new player. But I hope that can be a reality.”
Forestieri has only made three appearances for Wednesday this season, having missed a chunk of August following an internal suspension.
But having finished each of the previous two campaigns as the Owls’ top goalscorer, it is hard to deny his abilities have been missed in recent weeks.
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