The international dreams of Harvey Barnes for this season could be over after he suffered a knee injury that could rule him out for around six weeks.

The Leicester City winger has been in excellent form this season, leading the charge in the attack with the best season of his career so far. His season has been halted though after a big knee injury picked up against Arsenal, with surgery needed.

As the ball rolled through to him, he controlled it only for his knee to buckle and he collapsed to the turf. Manager Brendan Rodgers confirmed after the game that the injury is serious after he chipped a bone in his knee and needs to get it repaired.

Speaking after the game, Rodgers said:

“I just spoke to the doctor. That’ll be a huge blow for us.

“It’s not good news. He needs an operation. He’ll be out for a minimum of six weeks. Part of the bone in his knee has come off, so he’ll need it repaired.

“He’s had niggles with it. We tried to recover him on Thursday but it’s a bad one for him.

“It’s been irritable and today it’s made it worse. The consolation is it’s not as long as it looked like. I’ll know more on Monday.”

There was talk that Barnes would be able to break into the England squad at the end of this month off the back of his great form, which has seen him score nine Premier League goals this season for the Foxes – more than anyone else in the squad bar Jamie Vardy.

With wide options in the England squad so stacked, it is already incredibly difficult to get into the squad but Barnes was seemingly on the verge. His dribbling, passing and finishing have all dramatically improved this season and with that added end product Gareth Southgate may have been looking at him as a wildcard option for the European Championships.

With the final international break before the end of the season coming up this month, it would’ve been a great chance for Barnes to get in front of the manager and show his best. But with injury ruling him out, it will take something extra special for his first call up to come in June when the tournament is due to begin.

His injury will be seen as a positive for other players looking to get into the squad with the likes of Mason Greenwood, Callum Hudson-Odoi, Bukayo Saka and James Maddison all on the fringes of the squad and capable of having a big say with a good run of form towards the end of the season.

For Barnes, he will look to recover and get back to his fine form as quickly as possible but should probably have his eye on the England squads after the tournament rather than Euro 2020.