Bayern Munich defender Javi Martinez is set to miss a month's worth of action after re-injuring his knee in training.
Martinez, 27, is now one of many injured defenders at the Munich-based club. With Jerome Boateng and Mehdi Benatia all nursing injuries, this now leaves Bayern with only two fully fit recognised centre-backs.
This is now Martinez's eighth injury at Bayern, which has ruled him out of 76 matches over four years. He is set to miss out on key matches against Bayer Leverkusen, VfL Wolfsburg and Bayern's game against Juventus in the knockout stages of the UEFA Champions League.
Tasci is a short-term solution
This news lead to Bayern rushing into the transfer market and signing ex-Stuttgart defender and former Bundesliga champion, Serdar Tasci on loan from Spartak Moscow for the remainder of the season.
Tasci, who has had injury problems of his own throughout his career, won the Bundesliga in 2007 with Stuttgart and also has a respectful 14 caps for the current World Champions.
Bayern's sporting director Matthias Sammer said Martinez' injury was "not too serious" although the Spaniard could need to undergo an operation in order to recover.
Another injury blow
Martinez himself even described the injury similarly on Twitter, however, initial reports out of the Bayern camp suggest he is likely to miss a months worth of action; tallying up to seven games that he would miss.
Pep Guardiola's men may have gotten of lightly though, with the squad more than able to implement a 'three at the back' system, with David Alaba more than capable of playing in the centre of defence and Rafinha and Philipp Lahm also able to play amongst the centre-halves.
Only time will tell how Guardiola and Martinez's teammates will cope with his absence, however, it will surely spice up the league and Bayern's following fixtures.