FC Metz left-back Matthieu Udol will now have to wait several months to make his Ligue 1 debut with the promoted club after rupturing the anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee in a pre-season friendly.
After being forced off in a 3-1 friendly win over Belgian second-division side RFC Seraing - where he spent the first half of last season on loan - Udol underwent further examinations and club doctors have estimated that the promising defender will be sidelined for around six months.
Momentum
The news comes as a blow to promoted club FC Metz, who are making their return to France's top flight after a season spent in Ligue 2, and who were counting on 20-year-old left-back Udol to pick up where he left off last season.
Loaned out to Seraing at the beginning of the 2015-16 campaign, Udol was brought back to Metz by coach Philippe Hinschberger in January and hit the ground running, starting every one of the Lorraine club's last eight matches of the Ligue 2 season and helping them to a third-placed finish - and promotion to Ligue 1.
