Crystal Palace confirm Pape Souaré will be out until the New Year after horror crash

Crystal Palace defender Pape Souaré will be out of action for up to six months following his horror car crash.

Manager Alan Pardew confirmed the Senegal international will not be available until January at the earliest after sustaining serious thigh and jawbone injuries The injury update cast major doubt on Souaré's involvement in the Africa Cup of Nations, where he was likely to start after playing all five of his country's qualifiers before the accident. https://twitter.com/CPFC/status/776693721786118145 Souaré, who played more than 50 times for the Eagles since joining from Lille in January 2015, was reportedly airlifted to hospital on Sunday following a collision on the M4 motorway. In a press conference ahead of Palace's Premier League meeting with bottom-of-the-table Stoke City, Pardew revealed that a number of teammates have visited the defender in hospital, and that he will hopefully be able to return home tomorrow.

"We owe a huge debt to the London Air Ambulance and the surgeons who helped him," the manager said "We think he'll make a full recovery...It was a broken thigh, that should repair as normal. "He's very lucky his injuries aren't as bad as they could have been. The extent of some of the muscular injuries are still not known." "He isn't having the best of times, but we're all very supporting. We love Papa and can't wait to have him back."

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