Nottingham Forest's star striker Britt Assombalonga has been ruled out of action for a year through injury.
The Reds 15-goal top scorer – and £5.5m club record buy – has undergone surgery on a knee injury he suffered in their 3-0 win against Wigan at the City Ground on Wednesday night.
Assombalonga scored their first goal against the Latics, but then sustained the injury in the second half and was carried off on a stretcher.
The club has now confirmed he will be sidelined for 12 months, which is a huge blow for the Reds and new boss Dougie Freedman.
Assombalonga has ruptured his patellar tendon, after dislocating his kneecap, which has caused damage to most of the other ligaments in his knee.
"It is disappointing and it is mainly disappointing for the lad. I am disappointed for him, but things like that happen in games. We just have to make sure we give him support," said Freedman.
"I am not too sure what the exact damage is, in terms of the injury, we have just been told that it is an injury that will keep him out for 12 months. We still have to get to the bottom of the exact injury, but we have been told by the surgeons that it will be a year. We know it was related to the knee cap.
"It is a blow for the player more than anything, because he is a huge player for us, he has scored 15 goals for us already this season. I am disappointed for him more than anything.
"We have a couple of players in the squad who we will have a look at. We have Matty Fryatt, Lars Veldwijk and Dexter Blackstock coming back from his own injury."
