Fulham striker Andy Johnson is set to be ruled out for the season with a knee injury.
The Daily Mail says Fulham boss Roy Hodgson heard the news only after allowing Diomansy Kamara to join Celtic on loan, a move he would not have sanctioned if he had known the seriousness of the injury.
Johnson, 28, will have an exploratory operation this week and Hodgson said: "If they find the problem is major, Andy would need an operation that would keep him out for the rest of the season. If we're lucky it's something wrong with the cartilage or something like that, then he might be back earlier.
"One of the reasons we let Diomansy go was because we didn't think the problem with Andy was anywhere near as grave.
"If you said to me, "Would I like him (Kamara) back here?" then I would, but it's too late."