Cengiz Ünder Joins Roma's List of Walking Wounded

Davide Zappacosta, Leonardo Spinazzola, Diego Perotti and the recently recovered Jordan Veretout, and to that list we can now add Cengiz Ünder. When it comes to Roma and the simple task of keeping grown adult muscles in working order, things seldom go according to plan. Sure, things aren't as bad as they were when ACLs were falling like confetti on New Year's Eve, but for some strange reason, Roma just can't seem to shake these minor muscle strains and sprains.

While Roma can do without Perotti, and have barely even played with Zappacosta and Spinazzola, the same cannot be said about Ünder. Cengiz isn't the finished product yet, but on his day he's as dangerous an attacking player as we've seen in Roma in many years, one that seems tailor made for Paulo Fonseca's attack at all costs approach as well.

So, naturally, he was hurt on international break. Injured while on duty with Turkey, Ünder has tweaked his right hamstring, causing him to leave the national team to fly back to Trigoria to undergo further tests.

We're exactly 10 days out from Roma’s next fixture against Sassuolo, but hamstrings are definitely not something one wants to trifle with, particularly not with an athlete as explosive as Ünder.

If Cengiz is unable to go against the Nerverdi on the 15th, we may see one of Roma's new attackers, Nikola Kalinic or Henrikh Mkhitaryan, take his place in Fonseca's 4-2-3-1. With Zappacosta out for a month, there is practically no chance Alessandro Florenzi starts on the wing, not unless Fonseca opts for Davide Santon at right back, so it's not far-fetched to think that Mkhitaryan could line up as one of the wide forwards supporting Edin Dzeko in a week and a half.

Whatever comes to pass, these are precisely the sort of injuries that can linger and drag you down intermittently throughout the season, and if this is truly Ünder's breakout campaign, that's something he can ill-afford.