Fabio Cannavaro has a knee injury of undetermined severity, but his coach at the Dubai club Al Ahli expects that the former Fifa World Player of the Year will be sidelined for a considerable time.
David O'Leary, the former Leeds United and Aston Villa manager, said the Italian defender suffered the injury in a home match against Kalba last weekend.
"It's the kind of injury, I think he could be out for a while with," O'Leary said.
"His knee is very swollen," he said, holding his hands about eight inches apart. "We'll probably have to have a scan and look at it, injury-wise.
"I can't see it being a quick injury. Until we get the scans we have to wait and see."
Cannavaro, 37, was the centrepiece off-season signing at Ahli after their eighth-place finish in a 12-team league. He had not missed a Pro League match until Thursday night, when Ahli were riddled for five goals by the league leaders Al Jazira.
"When you come to Al Jazira," O'Leary said, "you could do with him out there."
Ahli signed Cannavaro to a two-year contract worth as much as Dh22.5 million per season, but the club have leaked goals throughout the season, conceding 27 in 15 matches, a total exceeded in the league by only the two promoted sides.
With Cannavaro hurt, the club now is in crisis in defence; no fewer than four centre-backs are on the injured list.
"We're struggling," O'Leary said outside Mohammed bin Zayed Stadium after a 5-1 defeat. "We're losing a lot of centre-backs. We've got injuries. Fabio is hurt, and we've got three other centre-backs hurt. The lad (Khalid Mohammed) who had to come off at halftime was our last one. We had nobody else. He got hurt; he twisted his ankle. We had to put in a lad (Ahmed Salem) who doesn't play there, and the second half we looked very vulnerable because of that."
He added: "The one thing we didn't need, if anything, was to lose a player in the centre-back position. When you come to Al Jazira, that's one position you don't want to be losing players. We had nobody else."
Ahli's decision to spend one of its three precious foreigners squad slots on an ageing defender like Cannavaro has been second-guessed. The preponderance of foreigners in the Pro League are attacking players.