James McClean is out of Ireland’s games against Wales and Poland on Thursday after breaking his wrist on Tuesday morning in training.
The 29 year-old posted of pictures of himself receiving treatment for the injury in hospital earlier in the day with one captioned: “Next step surgery...f*ck it! One of those things” and another “if I had a duck, the f*cker would drown,” and the FAI subsequently confirmed that he had undergone surgery on his wrist.
Although no details of how the injury was sustained were provided, it is understood that the player fell heavily on the wrist during the session. It is unclear whether anyone else was involved in the incident.
The loss of one of his regulars is a blow to Martin O'Neill who is already without James McCarthy and Robbie Brady for the opening Nations League game and the friendly that follows next Tuesday in Poland.
McClean has been a key member of O'Neill's sides since Euro 2016 and the manager had used him in a number of different roles including as a left wing back, a flexibility that the manager taken advantage of in order to change the team's tactics. His options had already been cut by the absence of Declan Rice and Harry Arter.
Wales are more or less at full strength for the game. After Thursday’s game against Ireland, they head to Denmark where they look increasingly likely to face a team that includes players from the lower divisions of the country’s league and the ranks of its futsal players. The team is to be managed by former Arsenal midfielder John Jensen, who scored the first goal in Denmark’s 2-0 defeat of Germany in final of Euro’92.
