Report: Sunderland's Pickford ruled out for 3 months
Sunderland's goalkeeper and undoubted standout player of the campaign, Jordan Pickford, will be sidelined at least three months with a knee injury, reports the Guardian's Louise Taylor.
The 22-year-old stood in for Vito Mannone earlier in the season, and has since become the first name on the team sheet through displays of superb athleticism that have kept the Black Cats afloat in the Premier League.
The knee complaint, suffered in a 3-1 defeat at Manchester United on Boxing Day, was given a prognosis by a specialist - a three-month layoff that could encompass 11 or more league outings - but it's unknown whether Pickford requires surgery or not.
The ailment is a snag in Pickford's rapid upward trajectory. The Tyne and Wear native went from being third-choice goalkeeper in January to being selected in an England squad for the first time in October.
With Sunderland two points short of safety as the halfway mark nears, the gloves will likely be handed back to former first-choice Mannone after the Italian overcame his elbow issue in November. His personal upturn in fortune comes amid reports that manager David Moyes was open to offloading Mannone in an effort to alleviate the club's £140-million debt and his £73-million wage bill.
Moyes heads into the January transfer window with no assurances of spending money from chief executive Martin Bain, despite a spate of injuries to valuable members of his senior squad. Pickford now joins Lee Cattermole, Jan Kirchhoff, and Lynden Gooch in the treatment room, with Duncan Watmore and Paddy McNair already ruled out for the remainder of the 2016-17 season.
Related - Sunderland chief: 'Very limited' funds to strengthen in January
After presiding over the worst start in Premier League history through the first 10 matches, Moyes has drawn better performances out of his depleted ranks; Sunderland has four wins and four losses in its last eight outings to place 10th in the table over that span.
Sunderland concludes 2016 with a trip to Burnley on New Year's Eve.