Cahill out for next six weeks

Aug 3 2007 by Ian Doyle, Liverpool Daily Post

EVERTON will hope the impending arrival of Leighton Baines can help soften the devastating blow of losing Tim Cahill for the opening weeks of the season.

Fears over the Australian midfielder’s fitness were realised yesterday when scans revealed a recurrence of the broken metatarsal suffered at Sheffield United in March.

Cahill sustained a hairline fracture of the same bone in his left foot after falling awkwardly during the 2-2 friendly draw with Werder Bremen on Tuesday night.

Everton moved to allay fears the 27-year-old has been ruled out for three months, with the injury not considered as serious as the original damage.

But Cahill is still expected to be out for around six weeks, delivering another major setback to David Moyes with James Vaughan already ruled out for months following a dislocated shoulder.

“It’s premature to talk of Tim being out for three months,” said head of physio Mick Rathbone. “He has suffered damage to the same area of the foot but it is miniscule in comparison to the previous injury.

“Tim jumped and landed awkwardly on the outside of his foot. He has injured the old fracture site a little bit, not very much at all.

“The extent is still being evaluated to be precise. He is having further x-rays and scans over the weekend.

“He has been incredibly unlucky. He has trained every day for a month and he has played some games in the Asia Cup, it was very unlucky and very upsetting for everybody, believe me.”

Cahill missed three months when he suffered the initial injury at Bramall Lane, but returned in time to make four substitute appearances for Australia in last month’s Asian Cup.

The midfielder’s appearance in the draw with Werder Bremen was his first outing for Everton in more than four months.

While reeling from the news on Cahill, Everton are edging nearer to signing Wigan Athletic left-back Baines.

The two clubs have yet to finalise a deal but Everton’s latest offer is nearer to Wigan’s £6million valuation of the player.

Another club – believed to be Manchester City – has lodged a serious interest in the 22-year-old, but Baines is intent on moving to Goodison and a transfer could be completed in a matter of days. Reports in Sweden yesterday also linked Everton with an interest in Elfsborg full-back Daniel Mobaeck.

The 27-year-old, who has been converted to a defender from a striker, shone last week when he scored the winner in Elfsborg’s 1-0 Champions League qualifier in Debrecen.

“Of course, I would be interested in playing in the Premier League,” said Mobaeck.

“If an offer comes, which is right for both the club and me, I am of course interested. It’s obvious that it is noticed in Europe when you score in an important match.”

Everton and Strasbourg are two sides touted in the Swedish media as monitoring the player, and his agent

Martin Klette said: “I can confirm that two European clubs have enquired about Daniel.”

Everton could discover today whether James Beattie has agreed to a £4m move to Sheffield United, with the striker having held talks with the Blades earlier this week.

Beattie trained at Bellefield yesterday but is likely to not be included in the travelling party for Everton’s final friendly at Crystal Palace tomorrow afternoon.

However, Everton appear to have missed out on Alan Smith with the Manchester United striker expecting to seal a £6m move to Newcastle United today after the two clubs agreed a fee.

The 26-year-old said last night: “Not everything is sorted yet but if everything goes right, maybe tomorrow morning.”