The Republic of Ireland may be sweating on the fitness of Evan Ferguson ahead of next month's World Cup qualifying double-header after the striker was taken off injured while playing for Roma on Wednesday evening.
Heimir Halgrimsson’s side are third in Group F and face an uphill battle to finish in second place with a home game against Portugal and an away trip to Hungary in their final two games on 13 and 16 November.
Ferguson, who has scored three goals in his last four international games, including the only goal in their 1-0 win over Armenia earlier this month, was withdrawn after just seven minutes of his side’s Serie A game against Parma.
It was his first start for the club since 2 October.
The 21-year-old had been dealing with an ankle injury ahead of the last international window but was able to play all but 12 minutes of the defeats to Amenia and Portugal.
Halgrimsson is due to name his squad on Thursday week.
Earlier, striker Sammie Smodzics, who withdrew from the last two Ireland squads through injury, revealed he had undergone knee surgery and would be out for an undisclosed spell.
Writing on social media, he said: "On the mend after a minor knee op. Thank you for all the supportive messages."
The 30-year-old was substituted after 21 minutes of Ipswich's win over West Brom at the weekend.
This setback is another blow for Szmodics and Ireland, with the player struggling with availability. He has featured in only one of Ireland's eight matches in 2025.
Most recently, the player withdrew from the Ireland squad during the October international window due to injury, only to be fit enough to play for Ipswich Town 72 hours after the national team's win over Armenia, when he suffered his latest injury.
Addressing speculation about his absence from the international squads and subsequently lining out for Ipswich, he wrote: "Also thank you [to] the keyboard warriors that know more about my life and situation [than] I do!!
"The last 2 weeks have been nothing shy of ridiculous the amount of hate messages me and my family have [received] over the recent international football concerns.
"Injury comes with playing games and rest is important otherwise things like this happen.
"Question my ability and performance but never my professionalism.
"Looking to be back asap."
Adam Idah, Mikey Johnston, Chiedozie Ogbene, Festy Ebosele and Kasey McAteer were the other attacking players named in the last squad.
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