Everton coach Roberto Martinez hopes Darron Gibson will recover from his cruciate ligament damage before the end of the season.
The former Manchester United midfielder suffered the injury during Republic of Ireland’s World Cup qualifying win over Kazakhstan on Tuesday, and scans have confirmed he will require surgery. Although this is expected to rule him out for the rest of the campaign, Martinez hopes the 25-year-old will make a speedy recovery.
“Yesterday’s scans showed that his ACL is ruptured, but the knee reacted well and nothing else is damaged,” he said. “We look forward to seeing Darron back, hopefully this season. Taking into consideration what it could have been, it was positive news.”
Gibson, who was making his return to the national fold following the departure of Giovanni Trapattoni, has endured a torrid time of late with injury. His appearance as a substitute in the 3-1 defeat at Manchester City earlier this month was his first of the Premier League season, having been laid up with a knee injury previously.