BIRMINGHAM, ENGLAND - APRIL 13: Paik Seung-Ho of Birmingham City applauds the fans during the Sky Bet Championship match between Birmingham City and Coventry City at St Andrews (stadium) on April 13, 2024 in Birmingham, England.(Photo by Copa/Getty Images)
Mark Robins expects to have Tatsuhiro Sakamoto back after the international break for a return to fitness ahead of the trip to Preston North End.
The Japanese winger has been ruled out of this weekend’s visit of Sheffield Wednesday to the CBS Arena after being stretchered off in the opening minutes of Tuesday night’s 3-0 victory over Blackburn Rovers with a deep gash to his leg. But Sky Blues boss Mark Robins is confident he’ll have the player back soon, assuming he can avoid any complications as the wound heals.
“He’s had about eight stitches in a gash in his thigh and what comes with that is you have to hope that he doesn’t get any complications or infections or things like that, but I am hoping that he will be fit for the Preston game,” said the City manager, who is also currently without long-term casualties Jamie Allen and Raphael Borges Rodrigues.
Asked if he’s seen the incident back when Sakamoto threw himself into a tackle with Tyrhys Dolan, whose studs caused the damage, he said: “I haven’t but sometimes with the challenge he put in and with these boots these days with blades or even the studs with a little bit of a jagged edge on them, it can just slice through your skin. And that’s what happened, it just opened his thigh up and needed stitches, but it was a really deep wound.”
Milan van Ewijk and Josh Eccles looked visibly shocked by the sight of the wound, and Robins added: “It’s not pleasant when one of your teammates has a cut like that, and obviously they were concerned about him. But it’s part and parcel of the game, I’m afraid, and you get these things happen from time to time. It’s just disappointing because it happened after only about six minutes or something, not long into the game.
