Norwich City midfielder Elliott Bennett sidelined until next year after knee surgery

Norwich City midfielder Elliott Bennett has been ruled out until the new year after undergoing knee ligament surgery on Wednesday night. Picture by Paul Chesterton/Focus Images Ltd ©Focus Images Limited www.focus-images.co.uk +447814 482222

Chris Hughton has ruled out Norwich City midfielder Elliott Bennett for a ‘number of months’ after undergoing knee ligament surgery on Wednesday night.

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The Canaries’ chief revealed Bennett had suffered an adverse reaction to featuring in the weekend’s Premier League opener against Everton and following scans was operated on last night. Gary Hooper will also miss this Saturday’s latest top flight game at Hull after taking no part in training this week following a shin injury suffered in the pre-season finale against Panathinaikos. Sebsatien Bassong and Anthony Pilkington have re-joined training this week ahead of the Tigers’ trip, whilst Robert Snodgrass also returned to training on Thursday. The Scot is now poised to replace Bennett in the starting line up at the KC Stadium if he suffers no adverse reaction over the coming days to his return to training following a groin injury.

“Losing Elliott is a big blow for us. It’s really bad news for the player first and foremost because I felt he did well against Everton,” said Hughton. “He played the game on Saturday but didn’t have a great reaction and we have since found that there was a knee problem that was operated on last night and will keep him out for a number of months. Robert trained for the first time today and along with Seb and Anthony will come into contention for the weekend. Gary still hasn’t trained yet. We felt progress might have been a little quicker than it has turned out.”

New Swedish striker signing Johan Elmander will be involved at Hull if the club obtain international clearance in time following his season-long loan move from Galatasaray. Elmander’s arrival has seen back-up forward Luciano Becchio widely touted with a Championship switch to Middlebrough, along with young centre-back Dani Ayala, but Hughton moved to downplay reports in the media suggesting both could be imminently bound for the north-east.

“When you are a club in the Premier League there is always going to be speculation. What we have managed to do very well is when we are bringing in players we do it at the right time and let people know at the right time. That is the same with letting players go,” he said. “We are making assessments of the squad. We have brought in eight players now but we have had more go the other way so we have to get the balances right. We have to feel everyone within the squad can give us that competition.

“Dani is someone who went out on loan last season but came back and I have to say looked very good in pre-season training. That is one we are assessing but it is important for him to get games at his age. He managed that last season, albeit probably didn’t get the number of games he wanted. If we feel after the window it is right for certain individuals to go out on loan then we have that opportunity.”