DANIEL Ballard is a doubt to feature for Northern Ireland over the international break after having an injection in his knee.
That meant Ballard couldn’t do any training for the majority of this week. Ballard went off in the 74th minute of the 1-1 draw with Derby County last weekend after suffering blurred vision following a clash of heads with Rams defender Lee Buchanan.
Ballard was called up by Ian Baraclough along with Lions team-mate George Saville for games against Lithuania on Friday and Italy on Monday in Belfast.
Northern Ireland can’t qualify for Qatar 2022 with two Group C games left.
Ballard’s knee issue is not a major problem and the defender is set to be available for the trip to Middlesbrough on November 20.
“Dan’s going to have to go through the concussion protocol anyway,” Rowett told NewsAtDen when asked for an update earlier this week. “But he’s felt okay since.
“He’s had previous knee issues, he’s been managing it quite well. But it’s intermittently limiting him a little bit so we’d agreed with Arsenal to get him an injection.
“Quite a lot of players have had them which usually means you don’t do anything for three or four days. It helps lubricate the knee a little bit more.
“I’m not sure whether Dan might meet up with Ireland later in the week or not. Ireland obviously can’t qualify anyway. It might be that he meets up for one of the games or doesn’t meet up at all.
“I’m not quite sure at this moment, it hasn’t quite been decided.”
Image: Millwall FC