Inter blow as Curtis Jones gets injured: how long he will be out for and who will play in his place against Parma

After spending the international break working at Pinetina, the former Liverpool player had looked certain to start for Chivu in Saturday's 6pm match, when Inter resume their league campaign after the break.

Now that is no longer the case and the Romanian coach must rethink his plans. Calhanoglu will certainly slot into the middle of midfield, while Henrik Mkhitaryan also looks set to get the nod from the start after three full weeks of work at Appiano Gentile. Jones's place will have to go to one of the players returning from international duty with their national teams, and Nicolò Barella is, as things stand today, clearly the leading candidate.

Curtis Jones underwent clinical and instrumental tests this morning at the Humanitas Institute in Rozzano.

Those tests revealed a myofascial problem in the adductors of his right thigh.

Doctors will reassess his condition over the next few days.

A strain is not a lesion, but with a muscle this delicate, and one that also affects several other systems, caution will be needed.

Unless there is an unexpected turn, the midfielder will miss Parma and the Champions League game against Bruges on Tuesday 13 October, absences that were already certain, and is set to stay out for around a month. That makes it extremely unlikely he will be available for the derby on 31 October, while the club hope to have him back for the final game before the break against Como.