St Johnstone manager Steven MacLean has confirmed that Drey Wright will undergo a knee cartilage operation next week.
But that may not be the full extent of the surgeon’s work on the Perth wing-back.
“Drey will get an operation on Tuesday,” said MacLean.
“We do know that they need to fix a bit of cartilage but we don’t know how much will need to be trimmed and there might be something else that will need done.
“The surgeon won’t know the extent of the problem until he operates.
“Drey will definitely be out for a lengthy spell.
“There’s no point me speculating about the exact timeframe at this stage. We’ll just let the experts do their job.
“Fingers crossed for him and us.”
Olufunwa returns
Dare Olufunwa is a contender to replace Wright against St Mirren on Saturday, having missed out Saints’ 0-0 draw at Aberdeen with an ankle injury.
“Dare is back in the squad but Dan (Phillips) won’t make it,” MacLean reported. “Hopefully he’ll be ready for Kilmarnock (next Wednesday).
“Ali (Crawford) is still injured but Boogie (Callum Booth) is back training and available for selection.
“Kano (Chris Kane) and Nicky (Clark) are both available.”
MacLean was a spectator at Dens Park on Tuesday night as Dundee and Ross County opened up the gap between Saints and the Premiership pack to four points.
“I don’t think there’s much difference between a lot of teams in the league,” said the McDiarmid Park boss.
“You can see we’ve improved. Hopefully we’re on an upward curve.
“We now want to build some real momentum by winning games, which would put pressure on the teams above us.”
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