Crushing Southampton injury blow emerges on Ross Stewart

It doesn’t look as though the Saints will have Stewart at their disposal for all of 2023/24.

There were previously hopes that Stewart was going to be back next month, something that would have been a much-needed boost for the south-coast side, having spent a sizeable fee to bring him in during the summer transfer window.

The sales of key players made this signing possible – but even though the club generated a decent amount of money from departures during the previous window – they would have wanted Stewart to provide value for money as quickly as possible.

He was injured at the time of his arrival at St Mary’s after sustaining an injury blow at Sunderland during the very early stages of 2023, but he made his return to action after joining the Saints, making substitute appearances against West Bromwich Albion and Huddersfield Town in November.

But he was consigned to a place on the sidelines following that after picking up a muscle injury – and didn’t look set to be back until January.

Russell Martin on Ross Stewart’s injury: “We probably won’t see him again this season”

In a latest update, it looks as though he won’t be playing any further part for the club between now and the end of the current campaign.

Speaking on this subject, manager Martin said: “I think we need to be really honest about Ross and realistic, we probably won’t see him again this season.

“Although it’s short term pain for us, long term we need Ross to have a full pre-season. To then risk him for maybe three or four weeks of this season seems a little bit crazy, but it depends on the situation we’re in.

“We had to rescan his injury to allow the initial swelling and all that to go down and it wasn’t very good news, so he will be out for a longer period. I’m devastated for him, the bad news just keeps coming, unfortunately.

“But I’m not going to come out here and lie pretending he might be fit, so I think if we say he’s not going to be here this season and then if you do see him at some point, it’s a huge bonus.”

Southampton may be regretting signing Ross Stewart during the summer

The Saints signed Stewart when he only had one year left on his contract at the Stadium of Light.

They could have waited and potentially signed him next summer when he may have been out of contract.

Making just two appearances this term, he hasn’t made much of an impact at all and even when he does return, it will probably take him a while to get up to speed.

He could still be an excellent asset in the Championship when he finally makes his return.

But if they are promoted and others are ahead of him in the pecking order, he could be deemed surplus to requirements. For his sake, you hope he can come back and make a real impact.