Sunderland striker Nathan Broadhead has been ruled out for at least three months and could miss the rest of the season due to a hamstring injury.

Broadhead, on loan from Everton, was forced out of last week’s Carabao Cup defeat at Arsenal and Sunderland boss Lee Johnson revealed the full extent of his injury before Monday’s Sky Bet League One game at Doncaster.

Johnson said: “It’s a bad one for Nathan. I would say it will be a minimum of three months, but it could be the season.”

The news is a huge blow to Sunderland’s promotion challenge and also Broadhead, who has scored six goals in his last six games and eight for the season in all competitions since he arrived at the club in August.

The 23-year-old, who signed a new contract with Everton in June to keep him at Goodison Park until 2023, was on course for his first senior cap for Wales.

Broadhead scored in Sunderland’s 5-1 defeat at Arsenal before sustaining the injury and his form this season had already alerted Wales boss Rob Page ahead of his side’s World Cup play-off against Austria in March.

The Wales Under-21 international made his first-team debut for Everton as a substitute in a Europa League game against Apollon Limassol in December 2017.