Portsmouth forward expected to be out for 8-12 weeks following operation
Pompey forward ruled out for anything up to three months after surgery
Callum Lang has been ruled out for the next 8-12 weeks after undergoing surgery on his left hamstring.
The Pompey forward suffered the injury in the Blues’ 2-1 defeat to Norwich on August 16.
The Fratton Park side initially believed the injury suffered was not as bad as first feared. However, after seeking the advice of a second specialist, the decision was taken for the former Wigan man to be operated on.
That operation took place on Tuesday, with the 26-year-old posting a picture of himself from his hospital bed on Instagram. The picture was accompanied by the words: ‘Surgery done. Let’s get to work! See ya soon.’
The best case scenario will see Lang return to training by October 21, with Pompey due to play Stoke at Fratton Park on Saturday, October 25.
The worst-case scenario could see the League one title winner not return until mid-November by which stage the Blues will have played 15 games of their Championship season.
John Mousinho provides latest on Callum Lang
Speaking to the media ahead of Saturday’s home game against Preston North End, Blues boss John Mousinho said the decision Lang himself took to have surgery will reduce the risk of a similar injury happening again in the future.
The player missed nine weeks of last season with a hamstring injury on the same leg - a setback that saw him sit out 10 of the Blues’ games over the closing weeks of the campaign.
When asked for an update on Lang, Mousimho said: ‘Yeah, it's okay. We had that second opinion, as I said last week on the scan. There were two different routes we could have taken.
‘Route number one was to leave it as it was and rehab it as we had originally planned, which would have been four to eight weeks.
‘The problem is at the back of that, the risk of injury still would have probably been a bit higher than it would if we hadn't gone down the route that we've gone down, which is for surgery.
‘So the recovery time is going to be a bit longer. We're now looking at more like the 8-12 week mark, but the risk of re-injury is significantly reduced.
‘So we took the advice as a whole. Callum made the decision and I think it's the right one.’
Callum Lang - an important player for Pompey
Lang has been a huge hit at Fratton Park since his arrival from Wigan in January 2024, with the Liverpudlian scoring 14 goals in 46 league appearances for the Blues.
Those goals played a huge role in Pompey securing the League One title in 2023-24, while his 10 last season helped the Blues beat the drop back down to the third tier.
That tally last term saw him finish second in the Pompey goalscorng charts behind Colby Bishop - a remarkable feat considering the hamstring injury he suffered over the second half of the campaign,
In in absence against WBA on Satruday, loanee Florian Bianchini played in the right wing, with Adrian Segecic playing through the middle.