Miron Muslic reveals huge Plymouth Argyle player blow | OneFootball

Key man Maksym Talovierov's knee injury has curtailed his campaign early

Plymouth Argyle have suffered a huge blow to their Championship survival hopes, with key defender Maksym Talovierov set to be sidelined for the remainder of the campaign after picking up a knee injury prior to going on international duty with Ukraine last week.

Talovierov joined Argyle on a three-year deal from Austrian Bundesliga side LASK for a reported club-record fee of £1.7 million in the January window, and has grown into a key player under Miron Muslic as they look to avoid relegation to League One.

The 24-year-old centre-back has been a hit with supporters at Home Park for his gritty, all-action performances and keen eye for a headed goal, but he now looks unlikely to feature again in this campaign, and fans will now be concerned that they may not see him in green and white again as a result of his impressive showings.

Miron Muslic confirms Maxi Talovierov season-ending knee injury blow

Talovierov has played eleven games for Argyle since his January arrival, and missed just 11 minutes of action from those games after becoming an instant starter as soon as he joined.

The Ukraine international has notched two goals in those appearances, with his first for the Pilgrims rescuing a point in a 1-1 draw away at fellow relegation strugglers Luton Town last month, then his second coming at the Etihad Stadium as he nodded Argyle in front against Premier League champions Manchester City in their FA Cup fifth round clash.

He has made a real impression at Home Park, and so concerns were raised among Argyle supporters when it was revealed by the Ukrainian Association of Football's X account last week that he had left his national team's camp to return to the club, and was set to sit out for the rest of March due to injury.

Those fears have been compounded even further by boss Miron Muslic's crushing reveal today that the 24-year-old will not play again this season due to a knee issue. The Greens' head-coach spoke to PlymouthLive about Talovierov's injury and his time-frame for recovery.

He said: "He will be out I think for seven to eight weeks, more or less out of the season. It's a huge setback for us.

"He's very disappointed because the season is over and he can't support us any more. We all know Maksym now in the last two months, he's a fighter, good spirit, top lad, good character.

"He's very down but this is also an opportunity for him to recover, to heal, he will get the full support of Plymouth Argyle, of all of us, and then he has to bounce back."

Muslic has had to contend with injuries to numerous key men - it could relegate Argyle

Plymouth's season has been one of real struggle so far, and it does not look set to improve much further over the next eight games without Talovierov's influence and character.

Miron Muslic has certainly made them a better team than under previous boss Wayne Rooney, but survival is the ultimate aim, and that feels unlikely with the club currently bottom of the Championship and cut six points adrift of Cardiff City in 21st place.

The Austrian boss has certainly not had his case helped by injuries to so many of his important players in recent weeks and months. Joint top-scorer and first-choice striker Ryan Hardie recently missed a month of action with a back injury, while Adam Randell has also missed out with a quadricep issue.

Talovierov joins the likes of Brendan Galloway, Muhamed Tijani and Julio Pleguezuelo on the sidelines, while Mustapha Bundu could miss their trip to Watford this weekend after picking up an injury on international duty for Sierra Leone.

Pleguezuelo's injury had already left Argyle short at centre-back, and now with the Ukranian set to miss the remainder of the campaign, Muslic has just Nikola Katic, Victor Palsson and Kornel Szucs to pick from at the heart of his defence.

It is fair to say that Argyle's troubles have been a lot of their own doing this season, but injuries have clearly had an impact on their fortunes, and none may affect them more so than Talovierov being out for the crucial final eight games.