Jonas Olsson fears Chris Brunt s knee injury could shatter his dreams of representing Northern Ireland at a major international competition.
Brunt suffered the setback during last weekend s 3-2 victory over Crystal Palace, the 31-year-old leaving the field on a stretcher after falling awkwardly when challenging Wilfried Zaha.
While the full extent of his injury has yet to be revealed, Olsson says the prospect of missing Euro 2016 would be a huge blow to his team-mate, who was struck by a coin thrown by one of his own fans in last month s FA Cup loss to Reading.
It is a shattered dream for him not to be able to represent his country in the Euros, said the Sweden international.
I think that coin incident is not on his mind at all when you have an injury like that. You feel for him as a team-mate and as a friend.
I have been playing with him for eight years. It is the first summer really when he was looking forward to something else other than a vacation.
I just hope he gets back fit and maybe he is there for the next championship [the 2018 World Cup in Russia]. Hopefully there is more to come from him.
Since making his international debut in 2004, Brunt has made 54 appearances for Northern Ireland, scoring once.
