BOSS Andoni Iraola admits the latest injury setback has been “hard” for Alex Scott to come to terms with, but has done his best to comfort the talented midfielder.

Scott returned from an injury to his left knee to finally make his Cherries debut on October 21.

After impressing, the 20-year-old is now ruled out again having made four appearances, suffering an injury to his right knee.

The former Bristol City man was forced off in the 6-1 defeat at Manchester City last weekend, with what has now been diagnosed as a grade two medial collateral ligament sprain, an injury to similar to one suffered by Marcus Tavernier in pre-season.

He is now expected to be out of action until 2024.

Upon suffering the injury, Scott hobbled off in tears at Etihad Stadium and shared how “gutted” he was in a social media post on Thursday evening.

Asked if it was safe to assume Scott will be out of action until the new year, Iraola told the Daily Echo: “I think Marcus was out for kind of six weeks. I will have to check exactly. But in my head I have it something like that.”

Quizzed on how tough it has been for Scott mentally to suffer another setback, Iraola said: “It has been hard for him, because also he is someone passionate and emotional.

“I talked to him yesterday briefly. I told him okay, it is very bad, especially for him and for us.

“But at least he has proved in the minutes he has played for us that he has the level.

“Everyone has seen him play. Now we know and everyone knows that we have a hell of a player there.

“Okay, it will take him time to recover. I don’t know if it will be (six weeks), but once we have him ready again, he is a player that we have seen perform in the Premier League and against top opposition.

“He has been, for me, really, really good and he has added a lot of value to the team, the minutes he has been able to play.”