Stoke City No2 Mark Bowen admits Bojan Krkic's knee injury is a heartbreaker.
Krkic broke down in their FA Cup win at Rochdale.
Bowen, who has worked particularly closely with Bojan, told The Sentinel: "It looks like eight months and it's a terrible shame for him.
"It's such a huge blow having just come to a different country, settled so well, proved himself and proved wrong one or two doubters abroad.
"He's been a tremendous professional to work with, a fantastic personality within the squad and someone who works so hard on his game.
"You could see he was enjoying his football for the first time in a while and it really is a huge blow.
"He had left the ground by the time the players came back in after the Rochdale game and they were devastated because they knew how bad the news was likely to be."
