Shrewsbury Town: Max Mata injury timeline revealed

The New Zealand international has not played for Town since their penultimate pre-season friendly against Bolton. 

The 25-year-old had made a good start to the summer after looking sharp and scoring against Kidderminster Harriers. 

But the forward pulled up in training after tearing his hamstring and has been sidelined for a significant period of time.  

And the Salop head coach has now confirmed that he will be out for eight to 10 weeks from the moment he first picked up the injury. 

"So it'll be eight to ten weeks from the original injury,” Appleton said. “So, I think we're two weeks in now, near enough. So, another six to eight weeks.”

Mata’s time in Shropshire has not got going since he arrived from League of Ireland side Sligo Rovers, having been in great goal-scoring form. 

He has only made 22 league appearances since his arrival, scoring one goal in the 2-1 win over Port Vale at the end of November 2023. 

Last season, he went on loan to Auckland in his homeland, but his campaign was cut short due to injury. 

Appleton says he is around the group and will soon start to pick up his rehab. 

"He's still around the group at the minute,” Appleton said. “There is not much he can do, to be fair, because of the extent of the initial injury. 

"He's still in the very early stages of his rehab. There'll be a point, I'm sure, in the next week, maybe two, where his rehab will have to step up a little bit.

"With those types of injuries and the extent of it, you have to get rid of the fluid and the bleeding and all that type of stuff first before you can start treating the injury. 

"Early doors still for him, although nothing's particularly massively changed in terms of the outline of when he's going to get back.”

Shrewsbury take on Tranmere in their first away game of the season this weekend, and they were set to be well supported in Merseyside with more than 1,000 fans making the trip to Prenton Park.