Luton Town will be without Cohen Bramall for up to six weeks after the winger suffered ligament damage to his ankle from a challenge against Blackpool, with manager Jack Wilshere admitting the injury could have been far worse.
Bramall was forced off following a tackle from Seasiders defender Olly Casey that caught his standing lef initially raised fears of a more serious outcome as he was stretchered off the pitch. And while Wilshere confirmed the scan results were a relief, the defender still faces a spell on the sidelines at a crucial stage of the season.
“I know ankle’s really well, obviously,” said Wilshere, whose playing career was cut short by injury. “It’s a ligament damage, but not as bad as we first thought. It was a bad tackle, in my opinion. And probably, if he didn’t lift his leg at the right moment, he might broke his leg.
“Even though it’s ligament damage, it’s not as bad as as we first thought. Probably, I don’t want to put a timeline on it, but if I did, I would say four to six weeks.”
Wilshere also confirmed that Bramall’s absence removes a key source of tactical flexibility.
“He gives us so much. He gives us so much variation in attack. The ability to drop back into a back five. But you’re going to be without him for a while now,” he said in his pre-match press conference ahead of tomorrow’s lunchtime kick-off at home to Bradford City.
“It’s down to someone else to come into that position and give us that threat in attack, but also the responsibility that you have defensively.”
The Luton were reportedly turned down twice with two late transfer deadline day swoops for Stockport winger Jack Diamond, who could have filled the Bramall void, but Wilshere insisted recruitment plans were not altered at the last minute.
“We were clear that we were only gonna add to that position if they had quality,” he said, while ruling out speaking about players from other clubs, but adding: “And if not, we’re happy with what we got there and the options we got there.”
Elsewhere, Wilshere revealed that midfielder Liam Walsh will miss the Bradford game due to illness and a shoulder problem he picked up against Huddersfield, while the clash will likely be too soon for Town’s two deadline day signings, Sverre Sandal and Davy van den Berg.
“With Sverre, the last thing we wanted to do was just chuck him straight into the group,” he said. “There is a difference in intensity. Especially with the way we train.
“David’s a little bit closer. He’s been with the group a little bit modified. Sandal is probably, I wouldn’t say weeks. I’d say maybe a week or ten days [away].”
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