Melbourne City FC have suffered a fresh injury blow, with midfielder Robert Koren ruled out until December.
The international marquee is yet to make an appearance for his club after picking up a calf injury ahead of the first round of the A-League season.
Head coach John van ‘t Schip revealed on Sunday that Koren had suffered a setback in training. He followed that up on Wednesday by annoucing that the attacking midfielder will not be in a position to resume training until late November.
“He got a setback on Friday when we were training at AAMI Park, and we got the results back the day before yesterday from an MRI and it’s not looking better,” Van’ t Schip was quoted as saying by Fairfax.
“He’s going to be out for a few weeks and that’s a big disappointment.
“It’s hard to know when he will be back. It’s going to take a few weeks. Five or six weeks. Its a disappointment for all and for Robi its the biggest disappointment.
“His injury seemed to be very little, but he reinjured himself in the same spot and its going to take longer. We can’t take any risks. We wanted to have him coming out of the midfield and into scoring positions. He showed in pre-season that he has scoring and passing abilities, but it’s a big miss.”
News of Koren’s significant setback comes after City’s winless start to the campaign and follows revelations that Spanish star David Villa – at the club as a ‘guest player’ from New York City FC, will not complete his maximum 10-game spell in Australia.
The injury to Koren is strangely reminiscent of the fate to befall last season’s international marquee, Dutch midfielder Orlando Engelaar, who broke his leg in pre-season and did not make his competitive debut until late January.
2014/15 Melbourne City FC Memberships are on sale now! Be more than a fan, become a Member today by  clicking here .
Members are our most important signings, so commit to your team today in the best possible way!
