The Kaoru Mitoma injury news that Brighton fans were waiting on is worse than first feared, and the Japanese international will now miss the next month with an ankle problem.

Kaoru Mitoma Injury

At first glance, Brighton fans will have been delighted at news that Kaoru Mitoma will skip January’s Asia Cup, but news of an ankle problem only adds to the club’s recent injury woes.

Granted, Seagulls fans can at least count themselves lucky that he will be ruled out for a run of games he was already supposed to miss, but it is yet another hindrance on Brighton’s injury-plagued season.

Manager Roberto De Zerbi revealed the expected timeframe for his return is four-to-six weeks, meaning the 26-year-old could miss as many as six games.

For a player who has featured for the full 90 minutes in over half of Brighton’s league fixtures so far, it will almost certainly be another unwanted casualty for De Zerbi who will be forced to turn to younger players in their ranks.

“We have more or less 10 injured players.”

Roberto De Zerbi confirms that Kaoru Mitoma could be out for 4-6 weeks. pic.twitter.com/PL27FpUxmm

— Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) December 27, 2023

Brighton Injury News

As mentioned, the Mitoma injury news is but another unfortunate twist in a long line of frustrating developments this season for Brighton.

While revealing Mitoma’s injury timeline, De Zerbi also confirmed fellow winger Simon Adingra will be ruled out of the Africa Cup of Nations with a hamstring injury.

Andingra, who has been one of Brighton’s standout performers this campaign, joins Ansu Fati, Julio Enciso and Solly March in a recent spate of attacking injuries.

It now means the Seagulls have as many as eight players sidelined as their growing list of casualties continues to de-rail their commendable start to the season. Their alarming drop-off in form, which has seen them fall as far as ninth in the table, means Premier League betting sites have handed them a longer price of 10/3 to finish in the top six.

They round off 2023 by welcoming Tottenham to the south coast on Thursday evening, before league and cup double-header with West Ham and Stoke leads them into the January lay-off.