Lee Bowyer warns that Charlton Athletic midfielder Joe Aribo is set for a lengthy lay-off

Charlton midfielder Joe Aribo could be set for a lengthy spell on the side-lines.

The 22-year-old suffered a knee injury during Charlton’s 2-0 win over Gillingham on Saturday and had to sit-out the Boxing Day defeat at Coventry City.

Addicks boss Lee Bowyer has revealed that Aribo, who had been linked with a move away from The Valley, is going to be absent for a while.

“I don’t want to guess but it’s not looking good,” explained the Charlton chief when asked how long his starlet will be out for.

“Joe Aribo is a big loss. He’s going to be out for a little while. We don’t pick-up a week injury or a ten-day injury, everything is long-term. I think he’s looking like it is no different.”

Fellow midfielder George Lapslie returned from a lay-off with concussion as he was introduced from the bench in the second-half of the loss at the Ricoh Arena – but will return almost immediately to the treatment table after a nasty clash of heads with the Sky Blues’ Luke Thomas.

“I’ll be amazed if he’s fit for Saturday,” said Bowyer, with the Addicks set to travel to take on fellow promotion-hopefuls Barnsley at Oakwell this weekend.

“He’s got a big cut on his head and it’s not looking good.

“We’ll patch it together and whoever steps out there, I know they’re going to give me one hundred percent. That’s a given. They know what I expect. That’s what I want. They give it to be fair. Whoever turns out and plays on Saturday will give us one hundred percent. We’ll see who we’ve got available and we’ll go from there.”