Southampton: Dusan Tadic Injured on International Duty, Out for Surgery

Southampton attacking midfielder Dusan Tadic sustained a broken nose during Serbia’s match vs Wales this week, and will require surgery to repair the damage.

Tadic was allowed to complete the match, which ended in a 1-1 draw, after play was stopped to tend to a bloody nose sustained during a contest with Wales defender Neil Taylor. Subsequent examination, however, revealed that the Serbian international had sustained a broken nose which could require surgery to repair.

At present, there is no comment from the club, who will begin receiving players back from international duty this week in preparation for the match vs Liverpool on Saturday. It is likely that the club will delay any announcements on Tadic’s status until they’ve had time to conduct an independent examination.

Should he require surgery, however, Southampton may well be faced with another tough loss to injury in a critical point in their season. While Tadic hasn’t quite been the goal machine his position at the number 10 would require, he’s a serviceable attacking mid with good distributive ability and, more importantly, a vital part of the rotational system operated by Claude Puel.

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With Tadic out, Southampton may increasingly lean on their record signing Soufiane Boufal, originally signed to complement and compete for the Serbian’s job. While Boufal isn’t quite the same type of player, preferring to shoot and cut in from the left, he’s shown flashes of brilliance in his game-time so far and could inject a much-needed burst of energy into a side that’s been found lacking in recent weeks.

If there is a silver lining in this one, it may be that the surgery itself comes with a fairly quick turnaround time. According to WebMD, initial swelling and bruising post-op tend to disappear in 10 to 14 days, meaning we could see Tadic back in action before the Christmas break.