Norwich City midfielder Youssouf Mulumbu will miss the start of the new season due to a broken metatarsal.
The 28-year-old sustained the injury during the Canaries' 2-1 victory over Brentford in their final pre-season outing at the weekend.
Mulumbu, who only joined the newly-promoted Premier League side in June, is now expected to miss the opening couple of months of the campaign.
"Unfortunately, Youssouf has a fractured metatarsal which requires immediate surgery," boss Alex Neil the club's official website.
"We anticipate his recovery should take several weeks and this is something we will be able to assess further after the operation has taken place."
Mulumbu joined Norwich as a free agent after seeing his West Bromwich Albion contract run down.
