Roy Hodgson has confirmed the news all Crystal Palace fans didn’t want to hear – Michael Olise will be out of action for the foreseeable future.
The attacker was a key figure in the Eagles’ late season renaissance under Hodgson but suffered a hamstring injury playing for the French U21s this summer.
That tear required the highly regarded youngster to go under the surgeon’s knife and although he is on the road to recovery, a return to first team action in SE25 seems some way off.
Hodgson told cpfc.co.uk: “There’s no update as such. We’ve known since the injury that it might take a while for him to get fit again.
“It was a serious injury which required an operation.
“We see him in here all the time.
“He’s well into his rehabilitation but it’s going to take a bit longer than a few weeks for him to recover, so at the moment we’re just hoping that the rehabilitation will go well and that we’ll get him back as quickly as possible.
“Certainly we won’t be seeing him for a period of time.”
Hodgson’s impressive string of results as caretaker boss earned him the opportunity to land the Eagles gig for a second permanent spell.
And the vastly experienced manager admitted he was pleased to accept the offer to stay when it came from Steve Parish.
“I’m very happy, of course,” said Hodgson.
“It was a nice end to last season. I really enjoyed my time working with the players then.
“Luckily we got some good results which helped us climb the league table.
“I was delighted, of course, that the club and the chairman thought that should continue and asked me to carry on for another year.”
Crystal Palace continue their pre-season tonight when they make the short trip down the M23 to face League Two Crawley Town.
