Jay Rodriguez is fast becoming the forgotten man of Southampton Football Club with a wall of silence about the injury that has meant that he has not played a game in well over three months.
Saints supporters are starting to ask the question about whether Jay Rodriguez will ever make a full return to fitness and first team action, back in the summer the question being asked was whether he could return the same exciting player he was before the cruciate ligament injury in the spring of 2014, but now it is far more sinister in that some are wondering whether he will ever kick a ball for the club again.
The reason for this is the wall of silence that has been placed around J Rod since the news that he was injured surfaced back in October, then it was suggested that it was a minor foot injury unconnected with his original knee injury and that a small procedure and rest would soon cure it.
But since then very little, the nearest that we had to perhaps news was a cryptic clue from Ronald Koeman who prior to the opening of the transfer window in January mentioned that he may be interested in a striker in that window but first he needed to assess the injuries to both Jay Rod & Pelle.
The fact that we have now signed Charlie Austin could raise speculation that the injury to Rodriguez is a lot more serious than the club is letting on, certainly as we approach the four month mark since his last game in the middle of October, the questions will get louder.
Of course there could be many god reasons why the club wish to maintain silence, but sometimes this leads to more speculation, certainly the club are quick to post messages on their social media pages when injured players are nearing a return to fitness, but nothing so far.
Rodriguez return in the first part of the season was solid if unspectacular, a superb long range goa against Espanyol in a pre season friendly suggested that he was on the mend, but in the League he struggled, although in fairness to him he started only two games, the opener against Newcastle and the scoreless draw at West Brom back in early September. The team was struggling at the time and it was a big ask for him to return to his old form straight away, especially in a team battling for results.
But as the season progressed he started to show that his form was returning, two goals in the Capitol One Cup against MK Dons was encouraging and he helped run down the clock in the final 12 minutes at Chelsea looking good.
But then after coming on as sub in the 2-2 draw with Leicester Rodriguez was missing from the next fixture at Liverpool, after a few weeks with no real news Ronald Koeman announced on 26th November that rest had not cured the injury to his ankle and that the player had had surgery on the 24th and would be out for 7- 8 weeks.
Since then little has been said and there has been no news of a return to light training or anything else for that matter with 9 weeks gone since that announcement.
This is starting to worry Saints supporters who are now wondering whether they will ever see Jay Rodriguez return to action with Saints, the news on his latest injury has been very vague and some are starting to think that it is far more serious than the club is letting on.
Certainly even if he was to return to training even today it would be several weeks before he would be fit enough for a return to first team action, meaning that it would have had a full four months out and counting.
But with Saints starting to fire on all cylinders again, there is a question mark over whether he would even get on the bench at the moment, Saints have a plethora of attacking options, Jay Rod on form is as good as any of them, but how soon could he recapture that form and is this season going to be written off for him as was last.
It is nearly two years since that original horrific injury at Manchester City, in that time he has started only 2 Premier League games plus another 6 as Sub, a thought for Jay Rod, if we fans are frustrated, then he himself must be distraught.
I like many Saints fans would be delighted to see him fit, back in the squad and getting near his excellent form of two years ago.