Bolton Wanderers ready key Brighton talks after Amario Cozier-Duberry news | OneFootball

Bolton Wanderers have been dealt a huge blow with the news that Brighton loanee Amario Cozier-Duberry is set for a lengthy spell on the sidelines.

Bolton Wanderers head coach Steven Schumacher has confirmed that the club will hold talks with Brighton & Hove Albion over loanee Amario Cozier-Duberry after he suffered a knee injury.

Cozier-Duberry joined Bolton on a season-long loan from Brighton in the summer, and he has enjoyed an impressive spell at the Toughsheet Community Stadium so far.

The 20-year-old has scored seven goals and provided nine assists in 32 appearances in all competitions for the Trotters, although he has not got on the scoresheet for almost three months, with his last strike coming back in early November.

Amid Cozier-Duberry's outstanding form earlier in the season, it was claimed that a number of Championship clubs were keeping tabs on him ahead of the January transfer window, including Sheffield United, West Bromwich Albion, Preston North End and Bristol City.

Cozier-Duberry's loan deal includes a January break clause, but the BBC reported in November that the Seagulls were "happy" with how the winger has fared in Lancashire and were "not actively looking to move him".

With the end of the winter window approaching, it seemed Bolton were set to hold on to Cozier-Duberry for the remainder of the season, but his injury could now see him return to his parent club.

Bolton Wanderers set for Brighton & Hove Albion talks after big Amario Cozier-Duberry blow

It was an important afternoon for Bolton on Saturday as Mason Burstow's stoppage-time penalty earned them a dramatic 2-1 win over Leyton Orient, moving them up to third in the League One table, six points behind second-placed Lincoln City.

However, while the Trotters would have been relieved to pick up three crucial points in their pursuit of promotion, they were left sweating over the fitness of Cozier-Duberry, who was forced off in the 26th minute with a knee injury and replaced by Cyrus Christie.

Speaking ahead of the visit of Burton Albion on Tuesday night, Schumacher revealed that Cozier-Duberry is facing at least two months on the sidelines, and he confirmed that Wanderers will hold talks with Brighton about the next steps for the winger.

"Amario has done some knee ligament damage like we’d feared," Schumacher told The Bolton News.

"He has got a lateral ligament tear so he is going to be out for eight to 10 weeks, probably, so that was not the news that we wanted, a couple of months at least.

"We will assess, and we've had him scanned today, but we'll get opinions from specialists and whatever over the next couple of days and speak to Brighton and stuff. So yeah, he's unfortunately going to be out for a little while."

With another loanee Marcus Forss also currently absent with a hamstring injury, Schumacher admitted that the news about Cozier-Duberry increases the need to strengthen in the forward areas before next Monday's transfer deadline.

"We've only got a week, and I've been saying all along, we definitely want to strengthen the squad, so we're still trying hard to do that," Schumacher said.

"With Amario being out, yeah, there's more of an emphasis on it, but like I said as well last week, before the injury, we're trying to strengthen in the forward areas anyway with a couple of players, so fingers crossed we can get something done sooner rather than later."

Cozier-Duberry may be without a goal since the start of November, but he is still one of Bolton's main attacking threats, so it is a huge blow for Schumacher to lose him for an extended period of time.

It remains to be seen whether Cozier-Duberry will be able to return before the end of the season, but the Trotters will surely be keen to have him back for the run-in, particularly with a potential play-off campaign on the horizon if they miss out on the top two.

The lack of a prolific striker has been a problem for Wanderers in their pursuit of automatic promotion this season, and with Schumacher now losing even more creativity from his team after Cozier-Duberry's injury, the club must bolster their forward line over the coming week.