On-loan midfielder has undergone surgery on groin injury and returned to Leeds

THE loan spell of 20-year-old midfielder Darko Gyabi at Plymouth Argyle looks to have been brought to a premature end by a groin injury.

Gyabi has returned to his parent club, Leeds United, to begin his recovery from groin surgery this week after making nine starts for the Pilgrims in the Championship, plus one appearance as a substitute, since joining them in January. He was sent to see a specialist after being ruled out of Argyle’s last game, the 1-0 defeat by Preston North End at Home Park on March 16, and found out he would need an operation.

It also meant Gyabi (pictured) missed out on a call-up for the England under-20s squad for two Euro Elite League games away to Poland and the Czech Republic.

Argyle head coach Ian Foster said: “Darko has had surgery this week and will miss the remainder of the season, so that’s unfortunate for us and for Darko. I know he had an awareness of some groin discomfort, and to be honest that’s normal for most players to be fair. He wasn’t going into pain with it so he was managing it fine.

“He just had an unfortunate incident in training where he had a block tackle and slipped, and that opened up the groin, and from that moment he never really felt great.

“We sent him away for a scan and it revealed there was something to be looked at, so unfortunately for Darko and for us the specialist decided the surgical repair was the only option for him. He has had that and thankfully it’s a successful operation but I’m 90-plus per cent certain it rules him out for the season.” Foster added: “He has returned to Leeds for treatment. We will continue to have dialogue with Leeds and see how Darko is getting on. I only spoke to him yesterday morning actually, just to see how he was. There is a glimmer of hope with Darko but I wouldn’t hang my hat on it to be fair.

“He’s gutted. I don’t think he expected the specialist to say that it required surgery. I think he was hoping it would be a conservative treatment period or perhaps an injection.

“The scan revealed it was quite a significant tear and it needed repairing. If he had played on it would have got an awful lot worse for him, which would have meant the timeframes would have been going into next season then, so he had to have it done.”

Gyabi becomes the second Argyle player to be ruled out for the rest of the season after Saxon Earley had his loan spell at League One outfit Wycombe Wanderers ended earlier this month by an ankle operation.

The 20-year-old has returned to Home Park as he sets out on his recovery from a torn anterior talofibular ligament. The hope is that he will be fit for pre-season training.

Foster said: “Saxon is back with us. He’s now just over two weeks post surgery. I know his surgeon is really pleased with how that has gone. We will manage his rehabilitation over the course of the next few weeks and months.”