Melbourne City forward Andrew Nabbout has been ruled out for the remainder of the 2024-25 Isuzu UTE A-League season with an anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury, the club confirmed.
Nabbout ruptured the ACL in his right knee on Monday night in City’s Round 3 clash with Western United at AAMI Park; the injury was suffered just minutes after he scored the only goal in a 1-0 win to City.
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Nabbout will undergo surgery to repair the ruptured ACL with the operation likely to take place next week.
On Monday night, head coach Aurelio Vidmar spoke of his devastation having witnessed Nabbout suffer another serious injury after enduring Achilles tendon issues in 2023-24.
“That’s what really hurts,” Vidmar said.
“That’s painful because he had two Achilles operations last year and just the other day he was saying to me: ‘All I want to do is play’.
“He’s had a good start to the season, the goal was all Andy, he smashed everyone and got himself at the end of it. So yeah, that’s hard to take that one.”
Nabbout’s season-ending injury was confirmed along with a six-to-eight-week layoff for fellow City star Marco Tilio, who suffered a partial tear of his left hamstring tendon in Monday’s win over Western.
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The injured Socceroos have joined a growing absentee list at City, with Max Caputo (leg), Arion Sulemani (calf), Alessandro Lopane (knee), Jayden Necovski (knee), Harry Shillington (ankle), Peter Antoniou (ankle) and Emin Durakovic (hamstring) all sidelined.
Sulemani and Antoniou are set to return to training in the coming days while prized young striker Max Caputo is expected to integrate back into training during the upcoming international break.
