ZIAN Flemming will miss the opening game of the Championship season due to a calf problem, Neil Harris has confirmed.
The Dutchman did not feature in this afternoon’s 1-0 friendly loss against Southampton, the latest pre-season game where he has not appeared.
Flemming did not miss a single match during the entirety of last season but now will not be present for the visit of Watford next week at the very least.
Harris said: “Zian’s certainly going to miss the first week of the season and maybe the game afterwards at Hull as well. We’ll have to see. He’s certainly going to be back involved after the international break.
“It’s the same calf issue. He’s seen a specialist and he’s got an abnormal calf which is quite bizarre. Bloody unlucky for us, can’t quite believe it. I won’t say it’s one in a million but it’s a real random one. It’s nothing he’s done, it’s nothing we’ve done. He’s just got to be really careful with that calf.
“Ultimately, if he misses the first three or four games we need him fit for the other 50 games during the season in league and cup. We have to be respectful to that.”
Flemming joins Billy Mitchell, Adam Mayor and Connal Trueman as the players who aren’t expected to be fit for the Watford clash. Also on that list are Niino Adom-Malaki, who sustained a serious knee injury in the pre-season win over Real Murcia in Spain, and Murray Wallace who went off injured in the same game.
On the young full-back, Harris said: “Niino has sustained a serious knee injury and will miss the majority if not all of the season. It’s a big blow for us but also a big blow for the young man who was developing fine. So he’ll get the best due care and attention we can give him and we look forward to welcoming him back on the training pitch probably not until March.
“And Murray will be missing for the next two weeks. We might see Murray before the international break or we might not.”
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