Borussia Dortmund‘s Konstantinos Karetsas will miss Saturday’s Bundesliga home game with Paderborn but is not expected to be out long-term.
The 18-year-old Greek, who has made a strong start to his Dortmund career after moving in the transfer window from Genk, was substituted in the first half of Dortmund’s 3-2 Champions League win against Villarreal on Tuesday due to circulatory problems.
Karetsas was carried off on a stretcher and taken to hospital.
Sporting director Ole Book gave an update on Thursday.
“It is clear that we are putting the health of the person and the player first, and accordingly he will not be with us at the weekend,” he told reporters.
“He is doing well under the circumstances. Further examinations are ongoing, we want to get to the bottom of it.”
But Karetsas is not expected to be sidelined for long.
“We are positive about it and hope that he will be back with us again in the near future,” coach Niko Kovač said.
Dortmund’s other new Greek forward, Giannis Konstantelias, ruptured his cruciate knee ligament on his Bundesliga debut last month and will be sidelined for many months.
In rare good personnel news for last term’s German runners-up of late, defenders Nico Schlotterbeck and Ramy Bensabaini returned to team training after injuries on Wednesday.
They could even feature against promoted Paderborn.
“They are fit, healthy and available for the weekend. That means I can count on them,” Kovač added. “I’m very happy about it.”
Schlotterbeck could now be an option for new Germany coach Jürgen Klopp, who will name his first national team squad next Thursday.
The centre back suffered an ankle injury in the 2-1 win in the World Cup group match against Ivory Coast in June. His return had originally not been expected until after the international break in around a month.
Bensebaini also missed the first matches in the Bundesliga, the German Cup and the Champions League due to a bruised rib. He was sent off in the German Super Cup at the start of the campaign.
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