Naughton ruled out for season with ankle-ligament injury

Right-back to miss around six weeks after tackle by Hull’s David Meyler

The Swansea defender Kyle Naughton has been ruled out for the rest of the season with ankle-ligament damage.

Naughton was hurt during Swansea’s victory over Hull on Saturday in a challenge for which the midfielder David Meyler was shown a straight red card.

A statement on the official Swansea website said a second scan confirmed ligament damage that will keep the January signing from Spurs out for around six weeks.

“An initial scan ruled out a fracture but a followup scan confirmed ligament damage,” said the club statement. Naughton was taken to hospital after the game for x-rays but had to wait for the swelling on the ankle to go down to discover the full extent of the injury.

The Swansea manager Garry Monk said after the game his initial view was that Meyler’s challenge was a red-card offence. “It was a genuine 50-50 ball for both players to have and my initial reaction was that it was a bad challenge,” Monk said. “I don’t think there was any malice from the player but you always run that risk when your foot goes over the ball.”

The Hull manager, Steve Bruce, felt that television replays proved inconclusive. “I’ve now seen it six times from three angles and three of them I think it’s a perfectly decent challenge and the other three he takes part of the ball but his leg collides with the player,” Bruce said. “The referee’s given the decision by what he sees, and from his angle he might see it as reckless, but you may as well say in these grey areas you’re not allowed to tackle on the floor. We all want our team to fight and compete because that’s what the Premier League is.”

Naughton has impressed for Swansea since joining from Spurs in a £5m deal in January.

The 26-year-old has ousted the long-serving Angel Rangel to become a regular at right-back and has started Swansea’s past nine Premier League games.


Guardian