Dundee United boss Mixu Paatelainen is hopeful that Florent Sinama Pongolle’s hamstring problem is not as bad as first feared.
The former Liverpool striker suffered the injury after just 10 minutes of Saturday’s home game with Partick Thistle.
The Frenchman fell to the turf and immediately signalled to the dug-out that he had to come off, sparking fears that he had suffered a long-term setback.
However, his manager said: “I don’t think his injury is as bad as we first feared.
“He will have a scan on it today but we are looking at one to three weeks. We will see.”
Pongolle will definitely miss Saturday’s trip to Inverness and Paatelainen revealed that Japanese goalie Eiji Kawashima will also not be available for the game in the Highlands.
The 32-year-old international had his work permit rubber-stamped by the SFA last week but there is now another obstacle blocking his path to play in this country.
Paatelainen said: “He still has a language test to go through. In Japan, the holidays have started already so it’s difficult. He won’t be ready for Inverness. His English is perfect but he will still have to learn Scottish!
“He is in Japan at the moment. It’s unclear when he will be over but it will be as soon as everything is done. When it’s ready he will come here. But the whole system and procedures around it are so complex, so difficult, so stiff.”
While Paatelainen awaits Kawashima’s arrival, he let two other players depart the club on Monday, with on-loan duo Aaron Kuhl and Adam Taggart returning to Reading and Fulham respectively.
The manager admitted the pair had slipped down the pecking order and it was in everyone’s interest to let them go back to their parent clubs.
He said: “If we had let them stay here, we wouldn’t have been doing them any favours.
“The boys found it difficult to break into the side in recent weeks and at the same time at their clubs, there was a change in management.
“So I felt we were doing a favour to the boys, really to let them go back early.
“I could easily have kept them here as a back-up and we are still paying half their wages.
“But we have cover for the positions they play in and it was better for both parties to do this.”