Southampton defender Claus Lundekvam is set to be out until February after surgery on his ankle.
News gets worse for Saints defender
Southampton are set to be without Claus Lundekvam for a minimum of six months after he underwent ankle surgery.
The timescale is significantly worse than the defender had expected.
Lundekvam suffered the injury during the Saints' final game of last season, and had originally hoped to be back playing in July.
However, the 34-year-old needed a tendon in his ankle reconstructing and is now facing the prospect of being out of action until February.
George Burley confirmed the extent of the injury, saying: "We had hoped Claus would need only a minor operation but when the surgeon went in, he found a much more serious problem.
Replacement
Even before the news of the longer lay-off, Southampton were looking to bring someone in to strengthen their backline, and now Burley is set to step up his efforts to bolster his squad.
"We are keeping our fingers crossed for him but it looks as though he will be out for some time," he said.
"In the meantime, we will step up our search for another centre-back and have been working hard so hopefully we can sort something."
