Cardiff City have been dealt yet another cruel blow as Isaac Vassell has been ruled out for two months with a torn quad.
The striker was signed from Birmingham City on deadline day for £2m before making a dream start to his Bluebirds career, notching a 95th-minute winner against his former club Luton Town.
He has been in and out of the City side since that game due to the wealth of strikers at Neil Warnock's disposal and a little ankle problem he picked up before the international break.
However, he now looks set for a lengthy spell on the sidelines after sustaining a nasty injury to his thigh.
It is uncertain as yet whether the injury was prompted by his outing for the under-23s against Sheffield Wednesday last week. Vassell played that game in order to maintain his match sharpness following a spell of irregular game-time in the senior side and it appeared to have worked when he scored the second goal of the afternoon in the 3-2 win.
But he was substituted in the 83rd minute and was omitted from Warnock's senior squad for the win over Middlesbrough last weekend.
The injury is likely to keep him out until at least November.
Neil Warnock said: "I'm really disappointed for Isaac, who’d been training ever so well with us these past few weeks.
"It’s naturally a setback for him, but up to him to put the work into his rehabilitation now and come back to the group stronger.”
The 25-year-old has endured a torrid time of it when it comes to injuries.
He ruptured his anterior cruciate knee ligament while playing for Birmingham in October 2017 and was ruled out for over a year. When he returned to fitness, he had slid right down the pecking order in the Midlands and struggled to force his way back into the reckoning.
But he arrived in the Welsh capital this summer with boundless positivity, hoping to banish his injury concerns to the past.
His winner against Luton immediately endeared him to the Cardiff City faithful, however it now looks like fans will have to wait some time before he dons the shirt again.
