Manchester City's creative midfielder Samir Nasri - who has been struggling with a hamstring issue since the middle of October - has been ruled out of action for a further three months.
This sad news will come as an untimely blow for both Samir himself, as well as his teammates, considering he was in the process of trying to force his way into Manuel Pellegrini's first-team plans - but his form has been consequently disrupted by injury instead.
Persistent injuries continue to frustrate Nasri
The 28-year-old, who made a £20m switch to the sky Blues in the summer of 2011 from Premier League rivals Arsenal, has shown flashes of the individual brilliance that persuaded City bosses to have a look at bringing him in.
Since then though, his development within the first-team has been constantly thwarted by one injury or another. This fresh problem is his 24th injury since his arrival at Eastlands - and competition for places, especially in midfield, is tougher than ever before.
Competition for starting places ever fiercer than before
Having played 322 minutes of football in all competitions this term, he scored once and created an assist, against Everton and Crystal Palace respectively. Only once has he completed 90 minutes this campaign though, which was coincidentally during their narrow 1-0 win at Selhurst Park - where he was instrumental in the build-up to Kelechi Iheanacho's late winner.
Often on the substitutes' bench, he is given little or inadequate time to prove his quality, especially during matches where City are either cruising, or losing. This fresh injury will certainly hurt his confidence, not least with the world-class attacking duo of Sergio Agüero and David Silva returning to training this week ahead of their clash with Jürgen Klopp's Liverpool side on Saturday evening.
