Uwe Rosler has confirmed that midfielder Tommaso Bianchi will undergo an operation on a cartilage injury which is set to see him sidelined for "between four to six weeks".

The 26-year-old had featured heavily in the opening pre-season friendlies before sustaining the problem during last week’s 2-1 defeat to Eintracht Frankfurt in Austria.

Rosler said: “Unfortunately we have to announce that Tommaso Bianchi will have a cartilage operation on Monday.

“It’s a similar thing to what Luke Murphy had and he will be back between four to six weeks.

“Unfortunately that happened against Frankfurt in a dual. It’s an impact injury and we hope everything goes well.”

On Bianchi’s performances prior to the injury, Rosler added: “I felt he did very well. He played a lot of minutes – especially early on in pre-season – and he got stronger and stronger in each game.

“I was really looking forward to seeing him in competitive game.

“But he has a good base of fitness and that will not be lost in two weeks before he can start running again.”