Arsenal goalkeeper Karl Hein is set to miss the rest of the season after sustaining a freak injury whilst at home.
The Estonian international joined Championship strugglers Reading in January on a loan arrangement for the second half of the season.
But after just five appearances for his temporary employers his season is set to end early - after falling over at home.
Reading interim manager Paul Ince gave an update on the 19-year-old, who was absent for his side's 4-1 thumping away at Blackpool on Saturday.
Ince said: "He (Hein) fell in his house and took the ligament off his bone in his thumb.
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"So they're talking four to six weeks out if he doesn't need surgery, or two months if it does."
The Royals took seven points from Hein's five games in goal, keeping one clean sheet.
It is yet another blow for the Berkshire side, who brought in former England captain Ince to replace Veljko Paunović earlier this month.
They beat Birmingham City in Ince's first game in charge last Tuesday but came crashing back down to Earth with a resounding defeat at Bloomfield Road despite taking the lead.
The loss - against one of his former clubs - means Ince's new side are just six points clear of the Championship relegation places following Barnsley's win over Middlesbrough.
Ince said: "We got the early goal and you think great, but we gave a poor first goal away, really, really poor. This hasn't just been with me, it has been throughout the season - conceding silly goals and making stupid errors.
"I said to the players before the game, we knew what to expect from Blackpool so there were no surprises.
"We gave a silly goal away, came out not marking and before you know it, it's 1-1 and it changes the course of the game.
"I said to the lads at half time, we're still in the game, and if we got the second goal I'd thought we go on to win the game. We started the second half well.
"In the last 10 minutes we opened ourselves up but as far as the first 25 minutes of the second half go, there were a lot of positives to come out of it.
"But it's about getting the results on the board and I told the lads to keep believing. We had a great result on Tuesday night but this was a bad result.
"It wasn't a bad performance, but it was a bad result. I'm not too deflated, we know where we are.
"We're switching four or five to try and make a team.
"We gave a poor first goal away - really, really poor. But I said to the lads at half-time 'we're still in the game at 1-1'.
"If we get the second goal, I think we go on to win the game. Up to the last 10 minutes, we were trying to chase it."
