West Ham will be without their highly-rated defender Angelo Ogbonna for the remainder of the season as a result of a knee injury, according to manager Slaven Bilic.<br /><br />It has come to light that the Italy international has been playing through the pain barrier since the start of this campaign but will go under the knife in the coming days, and the Hammers have signed Jose Fonte to provide cover.<br /><br /><span class="body1">&ldquo;I have to praise Angelo Ogbonna, because he has played the whole season with an injury, </span><span class="body1"><span class="body1"><span class="body1"><span class="body1">&rdquo; </span></span></span>Bilic told reporters.<br /><br /></span><span class="body1">&ldquo;He needs an operation on his knee to be fit long-term, and it was supposed to be a couple of weeks (ago) but we asked him to play.</span><span class="body1"><span class="body1"><span class="body1"><span class="body1">&rdquo;<br /><br />Including Saturday</span></span></span></span><span class="body1"></span><span class="body1"><span class="body1">&rsquo;s 3-1 win at Middlesbrough, Ogbonna has featured 19 times in the English top-flight this term, and received two yellow cards. <br /><br />Prior to his competitive debut for Italy, the versatile defender had committed his international future to Nigeria ahead of <i>Gli Azzurri&nbsp;</i> </span></span>but was snubbed by the Nigeria Football Federation. <br /><br />Ifeanyi Emmanuel <br /><br />Photo Credit : whufc.com<br />