Bristol City injury update as £2m signing ruled out for five months

Bristol City are likely to be without summer signing Ross McCrorie until the New Year, reveals Nigel Pearson.

McCrorie - who joined from Aberdeen for a reported £2m - is yet to make his debut after suffering an injury in pre-season back in July. He has been dealing with a bacterial infection, and it had been suggested that the 25-year-old may require surgery to address the problem.

His absence has meant the Robins have had to dip their toes into the loan market for the first time in Pearson’s tenure. Taylor Gardner-Hickman joined on loan from West Brom with an option-to-buy and made his debut against Hull City on Friday.

Meanwhile, club captain Andi Weimann has been in and out of the treatment room and has been contending with Plantar fasciitis.

He sustained the injury in the build-up to their season opener against Preston and made a return against Hull City but had to be subbed off after just three minutes upon his return.

Pearson said: “We’ve got five injuries and of those Ross won’t be available until maybe January-February time.

“Tough for him (Ross) to take, obviously, because it’s something that’s just unusual. We can’t do anything about it. The operation he needs won’t be straightforward either but it’s not for me to divulge medical information.

“He’ll get all the support we can give him but, there you go, it’s a part of the football world that you hope doesn’t happen but sometimes these things just occur and you’ve got to be realistic and pragmatic about it, and get on with it.”

Pearson added: “Rob Atkinson will probably start training in November. Tommy Conway and Ayman Benarous will probably start training in October, and that leaves Andi Weimann where he’ll be back in September.

“We’ve got injuries which we’re not going to get back pretty quickly apart from Andi I think.

“At the moment we’ve got 20 players available of which three are goalkeepers and two are unproven at this level and that 20 includes Ephraim Yeboah who is 17. We are tight, there’s no doubt about that.”

City have had to deal with several long-term injuries, such as Tommy Conway who suffered a hamstring injury earlier this month. Rob Atkinson and Ayman Benarous meanwhile have been contending with ACL injuries, with both making strides in their recovery.

The 60-year-old has had a preference for working with a smaller squad but with more versatile players. He was able to make five changes in the defeat to Norwich City on Tuesday night and is just trying to make do with what he has at his disposal.

Pearson added: “Even in a game like Norwich where we made five changes, we didn’t feel the changes we were gonna make, made us any weaker.

“We’ve got a squad of players which is small but the range of quality is narrower than in the past, we just get on with it.”