Manchester City will be without Erling Haaland until the end of January due to his lingering foot injury, manager Pep Guardiola has confirmed.
The reigning Premier League Golden Boot winner has not played since the 1-0 defeat at Aston Villa on December 6 with an issue described as "bone stress reaction".
Haaland did not play during City's Club World Cup triumph in Saudi Arabia before Christmas and has also missed top-flight matches against Luton, Crystal Palace, Everton and Sheffield United plus the Champions League group stage finale against Red Star Belgrade and last weekend's 5-0 FA Cup third round demolition of Huddersfield.
It had already been confirmed that the Norwegian international, who has scored 19 goals in 22 matches across all competitions so far this term after his incredible, record-breaking debut campaign in English football in which he netted 52 in 53, would remain sidelined for Saturday's trip to Newcastle in the league.
Guardiola has now revealed that he does not expect Haaland back until at least the end of the month following a setback, meaning he will also sit out the heavyweight FA Cup fourth round affair at Tottenham next week.
City host Vincent Kompany's struggling Burnley in the league on January 31 before February matches against Brentford (twice), Everton, Chelsea and Bournemouth, plus both legs of their Champions League last-16 clash with FC Copenhagen.
City will also head out to Abu Dhabi this month for a week of warm-weather training during their winter break.
"Yes, (he's had) a little bit of disturbing problems in his feet," Guardiola said of Haaland's latest delay. "It's fine but the doctors decided to stop for one week and maybe restart in Abu Dhabi.
"Hopefully at the end of this month he'll be ready. It was a little bit more than we expected in the beginning.
"It's the bone. It needs time. With every injury you can do whatever you want but it's a question of time."
He added: "We miss Erling a lot. We need him. Hopefully he can come back and play the last four or five months without a problem.
"When you are injured at end of November, you miss a lot of games. It's the toughest period."
City hope to have Jack Grealish fit to face Newcastle after illness, though Swiss defender Manuel Akanji has joined England's John Stones in the treatment room.
"He will be some weeks out. It's not a big problem but until the end of the month," Guardiola said.
"Now we're lucky that we don't have games in the next 10 days after Newcastle. We'll see how they feel in the good weather in Abu Dhabi."
