Toulouse FC made their long-awaited return to the European stage on Thursday but the occasion was marred by an injury to Zakaria Aboukhlal which is set to rule the Moroccan international out for a lengthy period.
Aboukhlal had to be helped off shortly before half-time in Toulouse’s 1-1 draw away to Union Saint-Gilloise in Brussels as they began their UEFA Europa League campaign and the club confirmed their worst fears on Friday after carrying out tests on the 23-year-old.
“Our forward Zakaria Aboukhlal will be sidelined for several months,” the club said in a social media post. “New tests will be carried out which will reveal more about the nature of the injury and the exact length of his absence.”
Aboukhlal appeared to hurt his right knee, raising fears of an ACL injury. However, Toulouse fans will hope a player who scored 15 goals in all competitions last season will make a speedy recovery. The Dutch-born winger had already netted three times in the current campaign.
“Zak is very important for us, so we hope he comes back quickly. In the meantime we will need to adapt to playing without him,” said Toulouse coach Carles Martínez Novell, whose team face a stiff test away to RC Lens on Sunday.
Last season’s Coupe de France winners will now hope to get summer signing Ibrahim Cissoko fit and firing as soon as possible. The 20-year-old Dutch winger is as close to a natural replacement as Toulouse have for Aboukhlal. However, he is currently recovering from surgery on a foot injury suffered shortly after joining from NEC Nijmegen.
