Norwich City have suffered a major injury blow after Ashley Barnes was ruled out of the bulk of a potential play-off campaign through injury by David Wagner.
The experienced striker limped out of last Saturday’s 2-2 draw with Swansea having not been fit enough to start the contest.
After just 14 minutes on the pitch, he limped off and scans have subsequently revealed a calf injury that is set to sideline him for at least the next couple of weeks.
Wagner is hopeful that Barnes would be fit enough to return for a Wembley final if City got there and was reluctant to call time on his season at Thursday’s press conference.
“He has a calf injury, as we expected. Luckily, it’s not a major muscle so we will not rule him out for the rest of the season. There is a slight chance for the play-off final at Wembley.
“This is now how we treat him, that he works hard in the treatment room with our physios and medical department to hopefully make it,” Wagner said.
“Let’s wait and see how he recovers and what the future will show us with him. Now, we use what we have, and in the last game [against Swansea], it was quite good what we’ve shown offensively, even if we didn’t score more than two goals.
“I’m quite confident and have a lot of trust in my team that they will do without Barnesy if needed.”
Barnes joins Onel Hernandez and Liam Gibbs on the treatment table, with Norwich boosted by Dimi Giannoulis’ return to training this week.
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