James Tarkowski has urged Brentford supporters to be patient with Scott Hogan as they will have 'one hell of a player' once he is fit again.
Brentford's summer signing from Rochdale was stretchered off during Saturday's win at Rotherham after suffering a cruciate injury to his left knee which will be operated on next Wednesday.
It was a third setback in the space of six months for the 22 year old, who was only making his second appearance off the bench since recovering from the last one.
Initial fears are that Hogan, who was also seeing a top knee specialist this week, will miss a large chunk of this season at the very least.
But fellow Mancunian Tarkowski has backed his stricken team-mate to come back stronger and show the fans exactly why the Bees splashed out £750k on him.
He said: “Scott is gutted, and we're all a little bit down because it didn't look great. He's been unfortunate, it's never a nice thing to see. We're all gutted for him as he had worked so hard to come back from his last injury.
“We played against each other when we were youngsters, when I was at Oldham and he was at Rochdale playing youth team football. He always looked like a real talent, and when he comes back the fans will see one hell of a player. They haven't seen anything near the best of him yet – his pace is something else.”
Tarkowski, who himself is playing through the pain with a broken finger he suffered in the game against Birmingham, broke up the successful Harlee Dean-Tony Craig centre back partnership when he arrived from Oldham last January.
He and Craig have been first choice this season too, but when Craig's suspension allowed Dean back in against Fulham last week, he kept his place alongside Tarkowski at Rotherham.
Tarkowksi added: “We have no problems with each other, Harlee has been great. He came back in good shape for pre-season ad worked hard to get there. We will all play a part this season, and the gaffer will keep mixing it up.
“It's good to have that competition , with three of us vying for two spots, as we all have to push each other. I've been in that position before where you're pretty much a certainty to play every week and you slack off, you can get a bit comfortable.”
Brentford, who have no game this week due to the international break, moved quickly to replace Hogan by bringing in Betinho on a season-long loan from Sporting Lisbon.
