Souness Blast Was Expected

Last updated : 20 August 2005 By Footy Mad - Editor

"The worst case scenario is that it could be six weeks," admitted Souness, furious that his talented £3.8m summer signing was injured in a non-competitive fixture.

"Hamstring problems can be quite lengthy. Emre has had a scan in Turkey and he has got a small tear. We're not sure of the extent of it just yet but it is an almighty blow to us.

"It's outrageous that this can happen in the modern game, I'm not best pleased about it and neither is he. The situation is beyond my understanding because these games are meaningless. They benefit no-one.

"We are in a unique business. If I ran a factory and I had 20 expensive machines which had cost me millions of pounds, would I let someone borrow them five or six times a year? Someone who was not going to pay me to borrow them, someone who would use and abuse them, someone who might bring them back broken? Of course not."