Aston Villa loanee Lewis Dobbin, who started the season at West Brom, picked up the injury playing for Norwich City
Aston Villa attacker Lewis Dobbin won’t play for loan club Norwich City again this season after suffering a serious calf injury in their 1-1 draw with Blackburn Rovers last weekend. Dobbin spent the first half of the season on loan at West Bromwich Albion, but when things didn’t work out he was redistributed to Carrow Road in January.
Things had been looking a little better for the Everton academy product, who only joined Villa in the summer and who hasn’t yet played for the club having left Bodymoor Heath in the summer as quickly as he arrived.
Dobbin scored in a 5-1 win over Swansea City at the end of January and then he scored again recently in a 4-2 victory over Stoke City – both goals coming on home soil. The setback, then, is very unfortunate for all concerned parties.
The youngster, who cost Villa around £10m when he switched places with Tim Iroegbunam in the summer, will now miss the remainder of the campaign having just broken into the Canaries’ side and playing regularly at senior level in the Championship for the first time.
“He was starting to be important for us, and he contributed in a different way to the other players we have. It’s unfortunate, mostly for him,” Norwich boss Johannes Hoff Thorup confirmed to the Pink Un.
“He is very explosive, so he’s a player who we need to take a little care of. There are some players where it’s a part of the game, but against Stoke it was the other calf. We always try to treat him carefully, and he’s not always doing everything in training. Could we have done something different? I don’t know.”
Thorup also confirmed that former Villa defender Ben Chrisene will also be sidelined for the remainder of the season: “He was stepping into that role in a very good way, so it’s so unfortunate for him and for us. We’re struggling a little bit for available players. It was an ankle injury from the first tackle, which I think should have been a red.”
