Haris Vuckic - The unlucky lad

It's now been confirmed that Haris Vuckic is set to miss the rest of the season with a knee injury.

It's a blow for the lad as he had been recalled from a loan spell at Cardiff City where he was playing regular games at the right end of the Championship.

Is there a bigger problem here though? Or has the lad just been extremely unlucky? Touted as a wonderkid and aged only 19, the Slovenian can undoubtedly have a bright future ahead of him if he stays injury free. However the last part of that sentence seems to be a bit of a problem for the youngster.

This latest injury is just another in what is turning out to be a long line of injuries. Some of them, such as his broken leg, have just been unfortunate while others could give cause for concern. For such a young lad he does seem to have his fair share of knock and niggles.

I'm not a doctor or anything, but perhaps part of the reason is the sheer size of him. If you've seen him up close and personal you will notice how tall he is for a start, and that he has "presence" about him. Not Micky Quinn type presence, just a physical presence that you don't often associate with someone so young. In short, he's a beast!

I remember a few years ago a certain Steven Gerrard had similar problems in his formative years. He was forever picking up knocks and strains which was eventually put down effectively to growing pains - physically his body was too big and his muscles, tendon, ligaments, bones and so on hadn't had chance to strengthen. I see something similar with young Haris.

The problem is that he's so highly rated, and has impressed largely when he has made brief appearances for the first team, so people want to see more of him. I'm sure he wants to see more game time, and I'm sure the coaching staff would love to give him more game time, but when push comes to shove and a chance opens up for him it ultimately comes to nothing courtesy of another injury here or there.

Naturally it's too early to tell, but my worry is that the term "wonderkid" is being replaced with "crock" or our Slovenian starlet.

Anyone else concerned?