Heart of Midlothian manager Robbie Neilson has provided an update on the extent of Kye Rowles' injury sustained against St. Johnstone last week.
Rowles’ impressive start to life at his new club suffered a blow when the Socceroos defender was forced off with a foot injury after landing awkwardly while heading the ball into the net in the Jambos’ 3-2 win over St. Johnstone.
Scans have since revealed that Rowles has fractured his metatarsal and could be missing for up to eight weeks. However, it is expected that he will make a full recovery in time for the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022™.
Neilson praised Rowles' contribution to Hearts and threw his confidence behind the 24-year-old to be in good shape by the time the World Cup starts.
"Kye is going to be out for six to eight weeks," Neilson said.
"He should be back in time to get a number of games in before the World Cup and I would expect him still to be in the squad because he's done extremely well for Australia and he's also done extremely well for us. Hopefully, he'll only be out for six weeks."
Rowles has gone from strength to strength since joining Hearts from Central Coast Mariners in July. So far this season, he has started seven times for Hearts and has been included in the SPFL team of the week on one occasion.
After three matches, Rowles had made 15 interceptions which was more than any other defender in the league at the time.
