Brighton fear Rutter and Webster season over because of injury
It might have been April 1st, but unfortunately this was no April Fool’s Day joke. Brighton fear that Georginio Rutter and Adam Webster will both miss the rest of the season through injury.
The duo limped out of the Albion’s FA Cup exit at the hands of Nottingham Forest. Rutter was first to go after damaging an ankle on 75 minutes, leaving the field clearly in a lot of pain.
He later reappeared on the touchline to watch the penalty shootout wearing a protective boot. There were also photos taken of the Albion’s £40 million record signing clambering into an ambulance afterwards.
Webster was then withdrawn with a muscle injury 15 minutes later, bringing to an end one of the best subplots of the Albion season so far.
The centre back had been much-maligned until returning from four months out when Lewis Dunk picked up a rib injury against Chelsea in the FA Cup fourth round.
Webster was thrown in at the deep end at half time with plenty of Brighton fans worried. Eight unbeaten games later and Webster has proven a revelation. Dunk has big boots to fill on his own return from injury.
Speaking in his April Fool’s Day press conference, Fabian Hurzeler said: “So, both injuries, I can say they don’t look great.”
Never a good start to an injury update from a manager who described James Milner as having a minor problem. Milner is yet to kick a ball eight months on.
“We have to add them on our injury list,” added Hurzeler. When asked if it meant injury to Rutter or Webster meant their season was over, Hurzeler replied: “It’s possible.”
“I will never complain about the injuries. Of course Georginio and also Adam, they were in great shape, but that’s football. We have to deal with it.”
“We have to deal with the injuries this season, and therefore we are always a team able to replace the injured players. Now other players have the chance to step in, and that is why I am really looking forward to it.”
Rutter has eight goals to his name. It has been an impressive first season at the Amex since joining in the summer from 1996 Coca Cola Cup runners up The Leeds United.
My favourite moment from Rutter though came last week. He uploaded a picture of himself to Instagram riding a mechanical horse with the caption: “This is me on a horse in slow motion because I can’t ride.”
Brighton do at least have options to replace Rutter. The obvious answer would be to play Joao Pedro in Rutter’s number 10 role behind Danny Welbeck.
But Brajan Gruda should also be in the conversation. Gruda took over from Rutter against Forest and gave one of his best displays in an Albion shirt so far.
Having struggled when used as a winger, Gruda did enough in his 45 minutes on the pitch to suggest he is better suited to playing centrally.
He also scored the cheekiest penalty taken by a Brighton player since the great Cristian Baz at Woking in 2010. Justification enough on its own for Gruda to be starting.
