Chelsea forward Lucas Piazon suffers broken leg while on loan at Fulham

Chelsea attacker Lucas Piazon looks set for a potentially lengthy spell on the sidelines after suffering a broken leg while on loan at Fulham.

The Brazilian forward, who scored a late equaliser against former club Reading over the weekend to secure Slavisa Jokanovic's 10 men an unlikely point, had to be carried off the pitch in the 35th minute of a Tuesday night (15 August) Championship stalemate at Leeds United after being hurt by a strong challenge from Conor Shaughnessy.

Piazon was immediately replaced by Neeskens Kebano at Elland Road and Jokanovic confirmed after the game that the 23-year-old had sustained a broken fibula that would keep him out for the foreseeable future.

"It is a very bad injury and we are going to lose him for a long time," the manager told reporters. "We are so disappointed with the situation about Lucas Piazon, I expect he is going to recover soon and he will be available soon.

"I don't believe Lucas will come back with us on the bus, I don't know exactly if he is in hospital right now."

Piazon is in his second season-long stint at Fulham, having returned to Craven Cottage last month after signing a new two-year contract extension with parent club Chelsea. The former Malaga, Vitesse Arnhem and Eintracht Frankfurt loanee made 33 appearances across all competitions to help the Whites reach the play-offs in 2016-17 and also scored and set up a goal during last week's 2-0 Carabao Cup first-round defeat of Wycombe Wanderers.

Such an injury hastens the need for Jokanovic to bolster his attacking options, with influential midfielder Tom Cairney and winger Floyd Ayite also missing that meeting with Leeds due to injury and Sone Aluko's future still not resolved with only 10 months remaining on his current contract. Piazon's fellow Chelsea loanee, Tomas Kalas, was suspended after receiving a red card just 39 seconds into the clash against Reading and goalkeeper Marcus Bettinelli is still out.

Kevin McDonald has also been linked with a move away from west London amid sustained interest from Nottingham Forest, while it was recently claimed that a £25m ($32.2m) bid from Tottenham Hotspur for teenage full-back prodigy Ryan Sessegnon had been rebuffed. The England Under-19 international, who had one year left to run on his scholarship deal, put pen to paper on his first professional agreement in June and is under contract until 2020.

Fulham are reported to have beaten Premier League newcomers Newcastle United and promotion rivals Middlesbrough to the loan signing of Sheyi Ojo, with the Liverpool winger undergoing a medical yesterday. They are similarly in talks to sign Cardiff City left-back Joe Bennett, while the recruitment department have also been chasing Bordeaux duo Maxime Poundje and Diego Rolan.

Fulham have made six additions to their squad so far this summer, with Chelsea pair Kalas and Piazon joined by Aboubakar Kamara, Ibrahima Cisse, Oliver Norwood and Marcelo Djalo. They lost Scott Malone to Huddersfield Town and sanctioned exits for the likes of Jozabed, Lasse Vigen Christensen, Richard Stearman, Jesse Joronen and Ryan Tunnicliffe.