Rotherham United manager Steve Evans has confirmed Manchester United loanee Dan Gore is facing "weeks" on the sidelines because of a foot injury.

Gore was a surprise absentee from Rotherham's matchday squad for their 2-1 defeat to Shrewsbury Town on Saturday, with Evans seemingly perplexed by the midfielder's absence in his post-match press conference.

The Millers boss revealed Gore had reported a sore foot on the morning of the game, resulting in him suggesting his players had not done enough in training for him to sustain an injury of that nature.

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Speaking on Saturday, Evans said: "He worked for two days in the team and went home from training on Friday feeling good. I got a call from the medical staff to say that he'd woken up with his foot really sore.

"I'll pick up more of it tonight [Saturday] and tomorrow [Sunday]. It's unbelievable. We didn't do enough in training for him to have a sore nose let alone a sore foot. He sat there afterwards having lunch with the boys and had a rub and got prepared."

However, the United academy graduate, who made his first-team debut in September 2023, was absent once again on Tuesday night as Rotherham drew 0-0 with Blackpool at Bloomfield Road. Evans was quizzed about the loanee's absence after the game and revealed he is going to see a specialist.

"Dan Gore, as I said to you, he just went home feeling his foot," Evans told BBC Radio Sheffield. "Again, he is seeing a specialist.

"We think it's weeks. Both lads (Gore and Sean Raggett) were distraught yesterday (Monday). I am talking about boys who want to play football."

Offering further insight into Gore's situation, Evans, speaking to the Rotherham Advertiser, added: "I was frustrated at the weekend. We'd worked on the team for two days before Shrewsbury and it changed at 9am on Saturday morning.

"The kid trained really well and didn't feel a thing. He was going to play a big part for us and then, after he'd gone home, he spoke to the head of medical and said he was feeling his foot.

"That was at about 6.30/7 o'clock on Friday evening. Quite rightly, he gets medication prescribed, it gets delivered to him and he takes it. But he wakes up in the morning and his foot is more sore.

"That's why he's seeing someone. Nobody is more devastated than me. I worked really hard to get him here. He had three clubs above us in League One who wanted but he chose us because of the football I convinced him he would get."

It is the second season in succession that Gore has departed Old Trafford on loan in pursuit of regular first-team football only to suffer an injury almost immediately after arriving at his new club. He joined Port Vale in last year's January transfer window and suffered an injury on his debut, forcing him to miss the remainder of the season.

Gore joined Rotherham for the remainder of the campaign last month and made his debut from the substitutes bench in a 2-1 defeat at league leaders Birmingham City just over a week ago. He was in line to make his first start for the club against Shrewsbury at the weekend.

The 18-year-old has experienced a hugely frustrating past 12 months or so, suffering a freak shoulder injury last summer before sustaining a fresh problem in October that sidelined him for a short period of time.

He had played seven times for United's Under-21s this season prior to his January loan exit.