Carlos Carvalhal has confirmed that Kieran Lee is now likely to miss the remainder of the Owls’ campaign.
The midfielder – who has made 23 appearances this season - has undergone surgery on a hip injury and is set for a lengthy spell on the sidelines as he focuses on his recovery.
During Friday morning’s pre-match press conference ahead of the trip to Middlesbrough in the Emirates FA Cup, Carlos said:
“It will probably be all the season, we don’t know but it is a bad expectation.
“But we know the situation with Kieran Lee, it is not a new situation he didn’t have a surgery this week because the injury was this week, no.
“He is a player that was playing, as I mentioned in the week, there are some players giving their best but not at 100%.
“He is a fantastic professional, he did his best at the end and now he has had the surgery.
“He is a nice guy and a fantastic player and we hope he recovers as soon as possible. But we don’t want to put any kind of pressure on him.”
Via his social media accounts on Thursday evening, Lee said: “So guys, I've had surgery on my hip injury today!
“It just wasn't possible to carry on playing with it anymore. Everything went really well and I'll be working hard to come back better and stronger.. thanks everybody for the continuous support.”