Sammie Szmodics in action for Ireland. Ryan Byrne/INPHO

Ankle surgery rules Szmodics out of Ireland's Nations League relegation play-off

Ipswich Town boss Kieran McKenna admitted forward may not play again in Premier League this season.

SAMMIE SZMODICS HAS been ruled out of the Republic of Ireland’s upcoming Nations League promotion/relegation play-off with Bulgaria.

Ipswich Town boss Kieran McKenna has confirmed that the forward will “be out for an extended period of time” after undergoing an ankle operation.

While an exact timescale for recovery is not yet known, McKenna sad it would be “a good number of weeks” before his return and that the best case scenario is that he could feature in “the last couple of fixtures” of the Premier League season.

Ireland have the away leg of the play-off on 20 March before the return in Dublin three days later as they bid to avoid relegation to League C.

Szmodics has been a regular starter under international boss Heimir Hallgrimsson and emerged as an important asset in the side.

“Sam Szmodics has gone for an ankle operation, unfortunately,” McKenna said ahead of Ipswich’s game with Crystal Palace on Saturday.

“So he’s going to be out for an extended period of time. He originally suffered the injury in a tackle in the Fulham game, then had a recurrence of it in the Coventry game, then he had a recurrence of it after the Manchester United game.

“I don’t know the exact timescale, but it’s going to be a good number of weeks and if we see him again this season it will be in the last couple of fixtures.”

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