Leverkusen forward Pohjanpalo out for a month

Bayer Leverkusen forward Joel Pohjanpalo is to miss a month of Bundesliga action after suffering a hip injury on Friday.

The 22-year-old, who had been set to feature for Finland in the international break, has torn muscle fibres and Leverkusen are estimating that he will not return to the fold until the end of September.

Pohjanpalo had been left on the bench for his side’s season opener at Bayern Munich, having scored six goals in just 11 league appearances last term – starting only once.

With Javier Hernandez departing in the off-season, however, Pohjanpalo might expect to now enjoy more first team minutes and scored in the first round of the DFB-Pokal.

But the front man will miss a series of matches for both club and country – starting with Leverkusen’s clash with Hoffenheim on Saturday – and remains in Germany for treatment.

Unfortunately, @JPohjanpalo has had to be sidelined today due to a muscle tear. He’ll be out for about 4 weeks.

Get well soon, Danger! pic.twitter.com/2ZDWpd2Xav

— Bayer 04 Leverkusen (@bayer04_en) August 26, 2017