United States forward Haji Wright has been ruled out for up to 12 weeks with a quad injury in a major blow to Coventry City for their return to the Premier League.
Coventry will play their first Premier League game in 25 years as they open the season at the home of champions Arsenal on Friday. But manager Frank Lampard has confirmed that Wright won't be involved after missing recent preseason friendlies against Espanyol and Monaco.
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"Haji Wright won't be available for the Arsenal game," Lampard said on Wednesday. "He won't be available for a little while, he's got a very serious quad injury which is disappointing for Haji and for us.
"It's certainly going to be a number of weeks, could even be up to 12 weeks."
Haji Wright represented the U.S. at this summer's World Cup. John Dorton/USSF/Getty Images Wright scored 17 league goals last season as Coventry earned promotion to England's top tier by finishing top of the Championship.
The 28-year-old was selected by Mauricio Pochettino to the U.S. men's national team's World Cup roster, though he only made two brief substitute appearances -- in the group stage win over Australia and the round-of-16 loss to Belgium.