Ruslan Malinovskyi will be sidelined for several months after the gruesome ankle injury he suffered in the Venezia game. The Ukrainian star was diagnosed with a dislocation and fibula fracture and quickly had surgery. He’ll be out until the Spring, Corriere dello Sport informs (via Fantacalcio).

Genoa are hoping for good news from the infirmary. Junior Messias and Fabio Miretti have been tending to thigh issues in recent weeks. They shouldn’t be far from coming back.

In addition, the Grifone might turn to the free-agent pool to replace Malinovskyi. They are contemplating three players in particular: Rafinha, Antonio Candreva, and Viktor Kovalenko. The Barcelona product last played at A-Arabi for two seasons after leaving PSG. He tallied 9 goals and 10 assists in 44 matches in Qatar.

The Italian veteran has been pining for an opportunity after partying ways with Salernitana following the relegation. Instead, the 28-year-old was released by Atalanta after underwhelming loan spells at Spezia and Empoli.

Our Take on Genoa and Malinovskyi

They better err on the side of caution as Messias isn’t reliable from the injury standpoint. They should handle him with care even though he’s become massively important to their offense after the departure of Albert Gudmundsson. It’ll be a nice opportunity for Miretti, who has gone backward during his time at Juventus, but they could use somebody with pace. Candreva still had something in the tank last year despite his side’s dismal campaign. The other two options are more similar to their injured centerpiece trait-wise.

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