Ibrahim Afellay's season is likely to be over after the Stoke midfielder travelled to Spain for knee surgery.
Afellay only returned to action in December after recovering from cruciate ligament problems but his campaign already looks at an end after he was ruled out for a minimum of four weeks.
That left Potters boss Mark Hughes pessimistic about the prospects of seeing the Dutch international again this term.
'Unfortunately Ibrahim Afellay has a bit of a problem with his knee and is likely to be out for four or five weeks,' Hughes said.