Big-spending Manchester City have been hit by an injury to one of their biggest spends of the summer, Italian wonderkid Mario Balotelli.

The 20-year-old, who signed from Internazionale for £21m, injured his lateral meniscus during his only City appearance to date, their Europa League win in Timisoara, where he scored the only goal.

It was thought a period of rest would provide the cure for the injury. But he suffered a recurrence in training this week and the club announced that he would have to undergo surgery.

The club statement read: “The injury is (to) one of the two most crucial structures in the knee and medical wisdom is to try and encourage the problem to heal without recourse to an operation.

 

“It was hoped that the symptoms would settle down but once Balotelli began to step up his recovery programme this week, it became clear that action would need to be taken.”

Balotelli is expected to be on the sidelines for up to six weeks and will miss City’s eagerly-awaited clashes with Chelsea in the EPL and Juventus in the Europa League.

City this week named their 25-man squad for the UEFA Europa League qualifying group. And Paraguayan international striker Roque Santa Cruz was notable by his absence from the list.

Uefa’s announcement also failed to include James Milner and Balotelli, but both have made the final 25.

Santa Cruz was expected to be among the 25, having been named in City’s pre-January EPL squad and seen fellow forward player Robinho depart for pastures Milanese.

The £18m striker, whose City goals have currently come at a cost of £4.5m each, was reportedly close to joining Robinho in Serie A but a putative loan deal to Roman giants Lazio fell through.

Robinho has signed a four-year deal with the Rossoneri having previously rejected a move to Turkish outfit Fenerbahce.

The fee is believed to be £18m, possibly rising to £21m if certain contractual clauses are fulfilled. The 26-year-old will join Brazilian compatriots Ronaldinho and Alexandre Pato at the club.

Former City striker Benjani Mwaruwari recently criticised a number of City’s playing staff for being primarily motivated by money.

Whether this will be true of current City and England goalkeeper Joe Hart remains to be seen but may be tested if report of a radically-improved contract are to be believed.

Hart is currently the lowest paid player in City’s first team, on “only” £28,000-per-week. But the 23-year-old has established himself as City’s number one ahead of Irish international custodian Shay Given.

And he has also cemented the England number one spot in recent internationals. As a result, City are reportedly considering trebling his salary in current contract negotiations, which would make him among the EPL’s best-paid net-minders.

City suffered a setback on the pitch before the international break, however, going down 1-0 at Sunderland to a late Darren Bent penalty after new captain Carlos Tevez missed an open goal.

City host Blackburn Rovers in the EPL this Saturday at 3pm.