Everton midfielder James McCarthy has suffered a fresh injury setback after injuring his hamstring in training.
According to theDaily Mail, theIreland international had only just returned to fitness after a hernia operation, but suffered a small tear after Everton increased his workload intraining following his return last week.
Everton manager Ronald Koeman has previously criticised Republic of Ireland counterpart Martin O'Neill for playing the 25-year-old in two World Cup qualifiersearlier this month after Everton's medical department claimed McCarthy had been'massively overloaded'.
"Play him for 45 minutes, 60 minutes, but not 95 minutes after five to six weeks out. The second time, 80 minutes! You are killing the player," Koeman claimed.
"If you leave it up to the player to decide, then he is in a difficult situation because he's between the Everton and Irish teams.
"It is ridiculous that he has surgery, five to six weeks out, three training sessions, plays 90 minutes and then, after three days, he plays another 80 minutes."
McCarthy had made a return to Everton's first-team last week against Manchester City, but picked up the injury soon after.
"Of course, he is massively overloaded. I don't do this to my players at Everton because you get injuries again," Koeman continued.
Following the signing and subsequent impressive form of midfielder Idrissa Gueye, McCarthy's first-team prospects at Goodison Park had seemed limited and the Irishman had attracted interest from other Premier League clubs in the summer.
The likes of Crystal Palace, Leicester and Sunderland were all reportedly interested, while Championship side Newcastle were also supposedly interested.