Marco Silva had dropped a worrying claim regarding the fitness of Fulham attacking midfielder Fabio Carvalho.

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Speaking following the Cottagers' 1-0 Championship defeat to Blackpool on Saturday, the 44-year-old manager revealed that the 19-year-old's absence from the fixture was due to an injury the youngster picked up against Hull City back in August.

Silva also confirmed that summer signing Harry Wilson missed the match as a result of fatigue from his time on international duty with Wales, although suggested that the 24-year-old could be back for the trip to Birmingham City on Wednesday.

In his comments regarding the duo, as cited by the Fulham website, the Portuguese boss said: "It's different situations - Fabio because of his injury in the Hull City game, he did a big effort to play against Stoke but he felt it again the week after. We have to let him recover as much as possible, as fast as we can.

"Harry Wilson was because of his time with his national team, let’s see. Let's hope he can play the next game."

Fans will be devastated

Considering just how impressive Carvalho has been for Fulham so far this season, Silva's suggestion that the attacking midfielder could be set to miss the club's upcoming clash against Birmingham - and potentially further games - is sure to leave the Craven Cottage faithful devastated.

Indeed, over his five Championship appearances so far this term, the £225k-rated man has already bagged three goals, registered one assist and created two big chances for his teammates, as well as taking an average of 2.4 shots and making 2.2 key passes per game.

These returns have seen the youngster Silva dubbed a "fantastic" talent average a SofaScore match rating of 7.30, ranking him as the club's fifth-best performer in the second tier - a rather remarkable feat considering his age.

As such, it would undoubtedly appear the sooner the England U18 international recovers the better for Fulham, something which the club's first loss of the season last weekend perfectly illustrates.

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