SONE Aluko is all but certain to need an operation on his Achilles injury, ruling him out for the rest of the season.
The 24-year-old is being given two weeks of complete rest in the hope he recovers, but manager Steve Bruce admits that is highly unlikely.
"It's not looking good unfortunately, it looks as though he will need an operation," Bruce admitted.
"We are going to give him a couple of weeks off and totally switch him off and see if that has any impact. I can't see that being the case, but you never know.
"It looks as though he needs and operation, and if that is the case we will miss him for the rest of the season which is a huge, huge blow to us.
"It's a real crying shame for him and for us as up until December and Boxing Day he was arguably the best player in the league. It's tragic, but that's football."
