Manchester United's Mikael Silvestre has been ruled out for the rest of the season.
The French defender dislocated his shoulder in the final stages of last week's UEFA Champions League win over Lille.
Sir Alex Ferguson was confident Silvestre would be back in action before United's quarter-final clash with Roma.
However, Red Devils officials have now confirmed the injury is far worse than initially feared.
"Mikael's right shoulder required surgery to stabilise the joint," said a United spokesman.
"He will be back in training in three months."
The news is the latest in a series of injury blows for United in their quest for the treble.
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and Louis Saha are already out until the end of the month.
But there is some good news for United with Rio Ferdinand (ribs) and Nemanja Vidic (nose) both expected to return to action for Saturday's Premiership clash with Bolton.
The defensive duo were both ruled out of Tuesday night's charity game against Marcello Lippi's European XI, which United won 4-3.
However, keeper Edwin van der Sar will miss the Trotters clash after suffering a calf strain during the warm-up before last Saturday's FA Cup quarter-final with Middlesbrough.
used
this is good news
turbo_drift
Originally posted by used:
this is good news
CKeer
Originally posted by used:
this is good news
X2. Heinze and Evra are much better players.
Cheers. CK
lpx88
Me and my friend like high 5 when we saw this article lor
iceFatboy
for any non-mUFC fans who are cheering at this news, I would take this back at your team. May you have worse than this.
laughing at anyone's injury is sick, and it reflects on you.
I wish the best for Silvestre. He was not the best but a loyal servant for MUFC.