Manchester City boss Mark Hughes has admitted frustration over Martin Petrov's knee injury.
Petrov, who was injured playing for his country at the start of last month, has undergone surgery to repair damage to the meniscus in his left knee and will be out of action until the spring.
Hughes said: "We had hoped that we would be able to get Martin back a little bit sooner. Initially we had an opinion from a specialist that maybe if worked the site round the injury quite well we may be able to get away with an operation at the end of the year.
"That hasn't been the case unfortunately. There was an option to do a different type of operation but once the surgeon looked at the injury then it was felt it would be more appropriate to do a complete repair, that's why he's out for the three months."