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St. Pauli striker Ricky-Jade Jones suffers potentially serious shoulder injury

New St. Pauli signing Ricky-Jade Jones will be sidelined for “several weeks” after suffering a shoulder dislocation in his Bundesliga club’s second pre-season friendly. The longtime Peterborough United striker may be out longer if club’s medical staff opts for surgery. The news counts as most disappointing for Hamburg’s Kiezkicker after Jones recorded a hat trick in St. Pauli’s first pre-season friendly late last week.

Jones came on at the half during St. Pauli’s loss to German fourth division side SV Drochtersen/Assel on Saturday. After five minutes on the pitch, the 22-year-old had to be subbed off after falling awkwardly on his shoulder. Jones was immediately taken to the hospital for further examination. The grim news was confirmed by the Hamburger Abendblatton Sunday.

An official diagnosis from the club shall come on Monday.

“This injury really pisses me off,” St. Pauli head coach Alexander Blessin – quoted by the Abendblatt – noted afterwards. “It’s the worst thing that could have happened. It’s extremely unfortunate for both us and the lad. Now we have to find out if anything is torn or if it’s something more serious. That would be really bad. We have to hope that it was just a dislocation that we painfully put back into place and that only the ligaments are stretched.“

Jones’ fellow new signing from the Isle, Burnley loanee Andréas Hountondji, is struggling with an ankle injury he picked up at his last loan locale, Standard Liege. Hountondji started the second friendly, but was limited to just 33 minutes of action in order not to overtax him. Blessin spoke on Hountondji after the match as well.

“Andreas was obviously not happy about the timing of the substitution and would have liked to have shown what he can do,” Blessin – quoted by Kicker – said. “But we don’t want to take any risks.“

Jones and Hountondji are among eight new summer signings St. Paul have secured ahead of their second season in the German top flight. The eighth conformation came Friday when the reported upon capture of Arminia Bielefeld fullback Louis Oppie was officially sealed.

“[We’ve acquired] a dynamic player who is always involved in the attack, sets up his teammates, and can also create goal-scoring opportunities himself,” Blessin noted on Friday when welcoming his new addition. “He brings quality on set-pieces and defends with excellent intensity.”