Aaron Connolly is battling to be fit for Ireland’s Euro 2020 playoff in June, if the game even goes ahead.
The Brighton forward, who made his senior debut late in the qualifying campaign, has had surgery on an ankle injury.
Connolly had dropped down the pecking order at Brighton this year and may not have featured in Mick McCarthy’s plans.
But the 20-year-old would have been in Stephen Kenny’s thoughts for the Under-21 qualifiers against Iceland and Luxembourg which may be rescheduled for June.
Club and international football fixtures are all up in the air because of the Covid-19 pandemic.
And there is no guarantee that Ireland’s clash with Slovakia will go-ahead in Bratislava on June 4, as is provisionally scheduled.
Either way, Connolly has a fight on his hands and his rehab won’t be helped by having to train at home, like all players.
Brighton boss Graham Potter said: "Aaron picked it up in a training ground collision, essentially, one of his ligaments. He just had some surgery to correct that.
"He is in a pot (protective boot) at the moment, he is on the mend, making progress. But it is early stages of his rehab.
"It is going to be a few weeks of rehab for him and obviously all our efforts are on trying to make sure he gets the correct rehab to come back stronger.
“It was in the week before the Arsenal game, ironically. That was a bit of a blow for us."
