Kane Vincent-Young's surgery on an adductor tendon injury on Tuesday went very well and the right-back is facing 12 weeks on the sidelines, Town have confirmed.
Manager Paul Lambert revealed that the 23-year-old was facing a further lengthy spell out following Tuesday’s 0-0 draw with leaders Wycombe.
Vincent-Young, signed from Colchester for £500,000 in August, had been believed to be close to making his return from another operation to repair a hernia, which he underwent in Doha, Qatar three weeks ago.
"These injuries have required very careful management,” Town physio Matt Byard told the club site.
"They involve two separate areas, two separate problems to resolve and both issues have resulted in surgery.
"We used Dr Muschaweck in Doha, a leading specialist in hernia repair, and for the second operation Mr Schilders in London who is an expert on adductor repair.
"The injuries have required different treatment speciality, hence the different surgeons and should provide the best long-term outcome for Kane.
"The operation on Tuesday went very well and we are looking at a recovery period of about 10 weeks before Kane will be able to start first-team training and you are looking at another two weeks or so from there.”
That means Vincent-Young won't be back in contention until late in February.