Season › 2013-14 › News Koné's knee injury worse than expected , 6 November, 0comments | Jump to most recent Striker set for extended spell on sidelines It has been revealed that the injury to Arouna Koné's knee is a lot worse than feared and he will require surgey to fix a cartilage problem in the knee. That will involve a long period of recovery that is likely to keep him out of the side for the rest of the season. The striker has endured a frustrating start to life at Everton since his £6M summer move from Wigan Athletic, making just one competitive start for the Blues so far after battling a series of niggling injuries. He suffered a major setback after coming on as a substitute against Hull City a fortnight ago, with the knee injury he picked up in that 20-minute cameo turning out to be a lot more severe than first thought. The-29 year-old now faces surgery to remove some dislodged cartilage, followed by a lengthy period of rehabilitation. "We had disappointing news, [Koné] will need a bit of a period away," Roberto Martinez told evertontv. "We had to send him for a surgery and we need to see how long exactly he'll be out but it'll be a while," the manager continued. "I would say the worst fears were confirmed and he had some loose cartilage in his knee. We'll know in the next 48 hours. "He needs it repaired and the loose cartilage taken out. It takes a long time to recover. "We'll need to see how he gets through surgery but it's a really difficult injury in terms of time. He'll be fine long term but it's disappointing because I felt he showed against Hull he was ready to be himself and enjoy his football. "We need to give him a lot of support because he was enjoying his role when he came on against Hull and then he got a nasty incident that is going to keep him away for a long time. Koné's injury will leave Martinez with just two recognised senior strikers in Romelu Lukaku — the Belgian has had his own leg assessed this week following his collision with Hugo Lloris in Sunday's draw with Tottenham — and Nikica Jelavic, although Kevin Mirallas is capable of playing in a centre forward role if needed. About these ads © ToffeeWeb