Ian Evatt believes striker Shaun Miller could be out until March or April next year after a scan revealed the extent of his thigh injury.
The Bolton Wanderers striker picked up the injury in training last week and is poised for a spell on the sidelines.
He has made eight appearances for the Trotters so far this season since joining over the summer, the majority of which have been from the bench.
But speaking ahead of this weekend's clash against Port Vale, Evatt confirmed that Miller is due to be out until March or April 2021 after a scan revealed the striker's injury was more serious than initially suspected.
The injury was picked up with the final kick in training last Thursday, when Miller was doing a finishing drill at Lostock.
He said: " I would think we are looking at March, April time for him. It’s really disappointing. He’s been doing great.
"He looked great and we were doing a bit of a combination finishing drill last Thursday and the very last kick in training, he toepoked one towards goal and that was that.
"It looked innocuous at the time but since we’ve had it scanned, it’s quite a serious tear to his rec fem and again we keep picking up these rec fems and hamstrings and that’s soft tissue injuries that are purely down to the schedule and lockdown.
"We can’t avoid it, we’ve tried, we’re trying, we’re doing everything we can, but sometimes we just can’t affect the outcome, which is disappointing.
"We’ll wish him well and hopefully he can get ahead of the time he’s been allotted to recover."
