John Egan has emerged as a major injury concern with the Republic of Ireland's World Cup qualifying campaign on the horizon.
The defender was stretchered off in Sheffield United's Premier League defeat away to West Ham on Monday evening.
Egan looked to have suffered a serious foot injury.
It's a headache Ireland manager Stephen Kenny could do without, with the World Cup qualifying campaign beginning in just over five-weeks' time away to Serbia.
John Egan appears to have sustained a serious foot/leg injury.
Get well soon, John. ❤️ pic.twitter.com/uH8xawIDYY— Sheffield United (@SheffieldUnited) February 15, 2021
To add insult to injury, United suffered their nineteenth defeat of a largely miserable Premier League season.
Declan Rice gave West Ham the lead from the penalty spot four-minutes before the break, after the impressive Jesse Lingard was felled by Chris Basham.
Eight-minutes after the restart it was 2-0 - a header from Issa Diop placed David Moyes' side in firm control of the game.
And with the last kick of the match, Ryan Fredericks fired home a third for the Hammers who move above Liverpool into fourth in the table.
Addressing the injury to Egan after the game, Sheffield United boss Chris Wilder said, "It didn't look too good with the stretcher.
"He's on crutches now, and that caps a miserable night for us.
"I've been happy with the progress we've made since Christmas, but we've taken a big step back tonight which is really disappointing.
"We can't afford to take any steps back in the position we're in, and we need to recover very quickly."
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