Luton boss Rob Edwards has confirmed the worst fears over Marvelous Nakamba after the midfielder was pictured yesterday on crutches and heavily strapped in a protective boot.
The Zimbabwean was suspended for the Bournemouth game that got abandoned due to Tom Lockyer’s cardiac arrest, and that meant his one-match ban was carried over to the Newcastle victory.
Nakamba was available again for the victory at Sheffield United on Boxing Day, but he was not in the squad leading fans to fear for him as he suffered a knee injury while on international duty last month.
However, he recovered to play an hour in the defeat to Manchester City, and has suffered a separate issue that has required a knee operation.
“It’s not great news,” Edwards said of his midfielder’s status.
“It was an innocuous one where he’s passed the ball in training and he’s had to have an operation on his meniscus.
“I don’t want to put a timeframe on it at the moment, but it’s not good news. He’s going to be out for a significant amount of time but I don’t know how long that will be.
“He’ll see a specialist again in a few weeks’ time and then we’ll probably have a little bit more information.
“It’s really frustrating for him, first and foremost, and then for us as well because he’s a big, big player for us.
“But we obviously couldn’t say anything about it before because he was suspended for the last game before Sheff U, but because he was available for the last game it’s out there. So, (I’m) really disappointed with that one.”
Asked if Nakamba could be back this season, Edwards said: “Again, I don’t want to put a timeframe on it at the moment. It’s a significant period now.”
However, there is more positive news with some other Hatters. Issa Kabore didn’t feature in the win at Sheffield United and Edwards said: “Issa should be back. He trained today, so should be available for the game tomorrow which is great news. He was really close the other day. He trained on Christmas Day, so we gave him every chance, it just didn’t feel right on Boxing Day.”
Reece Burke has been missing since October with a hamstring issue and Edwards said the defender is doing, “very well.”
The manager added: “(He was) part of the session today. He’ll be doing some stuff, there’s a group training tomorrow. Hopefully we’ll get him ready to build up to the FA Cup game.
Jordan Clark is also well again after going down with an illness that saw him miss out at Bramall Lane on Boxing Day.
