Fulham striker Johnson to under go surgery
BBCSport
Fulham striker Andrew Johnson could miss the rest of the season if an exploratory operation finds he needs further knee surgery.
Johnson, 28, has only featured in 13 games for this term because of a dislocated collarbone and groin strain.
And Fulham boss Roy Hodgson, already without injured forwards Clint Dempsey and Zoltan Gera, admitted he may regret loaning Diomansy Kamara to Celtic.
Hodgson said: "Would I like Kamara back here, I would, but it's too late."
Kamara signed a loan deal until the end of the season with the Scottish club on transfer deadline day, before Hodgson knew the severity of Johnson's latest setback.
"One of the reasons why we let Diomansy go was because we didn't think the problem with Andy was anywhere near as grave," said Hodgson, who still has regular strikers Bobby Zamora and Erik Nevland to call on.
"I was concerned that I would not be able to give Diomansy regular games, so when a club of Celtic's stature comes in for him, it is very difficult for me to say 'you have to stay'.
"Of course now I have let him go and have further news about Andy, I might be beginning to regret it, but you can only make decisions at the time."
Fulham's injury list has grown with United States international Dempsey suffering knee ligament damage and Hungarian Gera taking a blow to his knee in training last week.
Hodgson did sign Roma striker Stefano Okaka on loan until the end of the season, however, and the Italy Under-21 international may feature for the first time against Portsmouth on Wednesday night.
Johnson, who joined Fulham from Everton for £10.5m in August 2008, played the full 90 minutes for Fulham in their 2-0 defeat by Blackburn on 17 January, giving Hodgson renewed hope his forward was back for good.
However, his knee injury could end what has been a miserable season injury-wise for the Englishman.
"Andy is shattered. He's devastated. If it's as serious as it could turn out to be, it needs to be put right for the start of next season," stated Hodgson.
"If they find that the problem is as major as it could possibly be, then he would need an operation that would keep him out for the rest of the season.
"If we're lucky and the major operation is not needed, and it's something wrong with the cartilage, then he might be back earlier.
"At the moment we're talking three to four weeks, and the worst-case scenario is the rest of the season and him being fit to join us in pre-season."