Crystal Palace have been hit with another blow ahead of the new Premier League season, with promising young right-back Nathan Ferguson ruled out due to an Achilles injury - the same problem that is likely to rule Eberechi Eze out until around the new year.
Ferguson is yet to make an appearance for the club since joining the club from West Bromwich Albion last summer after his contract with the Baggies expired - though Palace will still need to pay a transfer fee to West Brom after a tribunal.
Palace had initially made their move to sign Ferguson in the January transfer window six months before, but a knee injury was noticed in his medical. This put a stop to any deal with the defender requiring surgery.
However, since his arrival at Selhurst Park it has been a series of setbacks, with the defender coming close to a return at the turn of the year, only for a thigh strain suffered in first-team training to postpone his comeback.
In March, Ferguson was once again training with the first team ahead of a potential return after the international break, working with the Under-23s squad to build up fitness.
However, over the break he picked up another issue that stalled his comeback. Roy Hodgson said at the time that "when you're recovering from a serious injury, it's not so unusual that you sometimes pick up other injuries not to do with the knee which was the major concern."
With the end of the season fast approaching, Ferguson had been stepping up his schedule, though Hodgson had insisted that it would be "foolish" to throw the right-back into action before the end of the campaign, and risk disturbing the possibility of him building up fitness for the new season.
However, the Athletic now report that Ferguson has suffered a torn Achilles in training ahead of the first-team match against Liverpool.
Ferguson's injury is said to be less serious than Eze's, who will likely be out of action for some time after undergoing surgery last week.
