BREAKING NEWS: Craig Gordon has broken arm
July 16th 2010 10:55
From ESPN Soccernet.com
Sunderland goalkeeper Craig Gordon will not be fit for the start of the new campaign after fracturing a bone in his arm during pre-season training.
Gordon has undergone what the club describe as a "minor operation" but it is reported that the injury could sideline the Scotland international for up to three months.
In November 2009 Gordon suffered a similar injury following a collision with Tottenham striker Jermain Defoe and did not appear for the Black Cats again until January 23.
Sunderland have not confirmed the likely duration of Gordon's recovery, only that he "is set to miss the start of the season".
Coach Eric Black said: "Unfortunately, Craig has had a recurrence of the last injury he had, which is a broken wrist. He fell rather innocuously yesterday [Thursday] in training and suffered the fracture.
"He was on the ground, we were just throwing and catching and up, throwing catching as part of the warm-up. I was over with the outfield players and he just went down on it and I could see straight away there was something wrong - and he knew straight away, he heard it.
"He was operated on last night, he has come through the operation and the surgeon is really happy with it. Craig is very comfortable with it, but obviously he is now going to miss the start of the season and unfortunately, we don't at this moment in time have a real definitive timescale for when he will be back.''
Gordon joined Sunderland for a fee of £9 million in August 2007 and has made 72 Premier League appearances for the club.
Scotland boss Craig Levein rued the loss of Gordon for the first four games of the country's Euro 2012 qualification campaign - against Lithuania and Liechtenstein in September and Spain and Czech Republic in October.
Levein said: "It is obviously very disappointing to lose a goalkeeper of Craig's calibre for such a significant part of the campaign. I am as disappointed for the player himself as I am for the country because I know how hard he has worked to overcome a series of injuries.
"Craig has been an exceptional goalkeeper for Scotland - a talisman in fact - and I think after getting a metal plate inserted in his arm last season, he was getting back to his best form for Sunderland. He also made some outstanding saves in my first match against the Czech Republic."
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