Jewison Bennette, on loan from Sunderland, suffered an injury while playing for Greek team Aris.

The Costa Rica international will miss his country’s next round of fixtures, which are due to commence after this weekend’s league games.

Claudio Vivas, Costa Rica’s head coach, has stated that Bennette will miss the play-off versus Honduras owing to an injury, the degree of which has not yet been divulged.

The 19-year-old had struggled for minutes under Tony Mowbray and Michae Beale in the first half of the season, with Jack Clarke doing admirably on the left wing.

Bennette’s lack of minutes prompted both the club and the player to seek a loan transfer in January, with all sides wanting the offensive player to acquire experience before returning to the Academy of Light next summer.

Bennette has made only two appearances for Greek club Aris since his summer transfer, and Clarke is now injured at Sunderland. Clarke may miss up to six weeks due to an ankle ligament issue.

The announcement left Sunderland devoid of offensive alternatives, with Bennette the apparent successor for Clarke if the forward remained at the club.

“Not really, to be honest,” Dodds said when asked by The Echo if he regretted loaning Bennette away after Clarke’s injury.

“When the loan opportunity came up for Jewi, that was the right decision at that time and you can never predict or foresee the injuries that we have had,” Dodds went on to say.

“In addition, we must do the right thing for the football club’s long-term success. We have made commitments to a lot of young footballers, and we must provide them with the proper development pathway to ensure their growth and success.

“I’ll return to the argument I made about Jack Clarke. Jack Clarke was not Jack Clarke when he first arrived to the facility, and we provided him with a suitable growth plan that allowed him to grow.

“Sometimes that development plan might mean that the player needs to go out on loan and we have put that in place for Jewi and hopefully when he comes back, he comes back a better version of himself.”

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