Everton Football Club News

• Nickname:Toffees
• Founded:1878
• Manager:David Moyes

• Ground:Goodison Park
• Capacity:42,440

Toffees confirm Naysmith woe

27 Sep 2006 - 10:49:47

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Everton have confirmed that defender Gary Naysmith will be out for at least six weeks due to a knee injury sustained in the 1-1 draw with Newcastle United.

The 27-year-old Scotland international had to be replaced just before half-time of the St James' Park encounter, with Nuno Valente now likely to get a chance to impress at left-back.

Naysmith has strained the medial ligament in his knee and will miss his country's Euro 2008 qualifiers against France and Ukraine next month.

Toffees head physio Mick Rathbone told the club's official website: "Gary's scan has confirmed our clinical diagnosis that he has sustained a significant strain of his medial ligament and he is expected to be out for a minimum of six weeks.

"It was quite a nasty injury. When you run on to see a player they'll tell you what they think they've done and he was saying it was just a knock.

"However, when we reviewed him at half-time and we looked at a video of the incident, it was clear it was a pretty bad injury."