Manchester City striker Valeri Bojinov has undergone a successful operation on his injured Achilles.
Striker starts long road to recovery
Manchester City striker Valeri Bojinov has undergone a successful operation on his torn Achilles tendon.
The Bulgaria international, who had only just returned from a long-term knee problem, suffered the injury during the warm-up ahead of the Blues' Premier League clash with Aston Villa on Sunday.
He now faces a gruelling rehabilitation program, but should be back to full fitness some time in the New Year.
Repair
"He had surgery on Monday afternoon - the aim is for repair as soon as possible after the injury," said club doctor Mark Whitaker.
"His rehab will initially involve letting the tendon repair and then a gradual strength program with an anticipated return date in six months."
Bojinov's problem is the latest attacking headache to hit City boss Mark Hughes.
He is already set to be without Benjani and Darius Vassell for a prolonged period of time, leaving him desperately short of firepower.
With that in mind, Hughes is hoping that summer signing Jo will prove to be an instant hit once he makes his return from the Beijing Olympics.
The Brazil international helped his country reach the semi-finals in China, but must remain with the squad for a bronze medal play-off with Belgium on Friday.
"We were going to talk about it, but as I understand it it is a Fifa designated game so he still has to be around Brazil squad," Hughes told the club's
official website.
Exceptional
"The arrangements are that he will be back with us on Saturday morning and ready to train on Monday morning. He will travel with us to Denmark (for the second leg of a Uefa Cup qualifier against FC Midtjylland).
He added: "We have lost Jo for quite some time now, and he has not had a great deal of football recently either, which is a concern for us.
"We send them away with our best wishes, you do hope that while they are away that they will get good game-time under his belt. But he has not had a great deal of football in the time he has been away, so hopefully he can hit the ground running.
"He has been in competitive games, but going in for 10-15 minutes a time is not the ideal preparation for Premier League games, so it might take a little bit of time to get up to speed. But needs must, and I think he will be involved with us very, very quickly.
"We hope that he will settle very quickly, he has got the ability to and he will give us a presence up front which we lacked last weekend. He's exceptional in the air and he will give us a bit extra."
