Heart of Midlothian have suffered an injury blow with the news Jamie McCart is set to miss the next three months.
The centre-back suffered an injury at the end of the 1-1 draw with St Mirren in a friendly during the team's pre-season training camp in Spain last week.
He returned on Friday to undergo a scan with the club getting the results on Saturday.
McCart had impressed Derek McInnes during the first two weeks of pre-season but will now be on the sidelines for the start of the season.
He will be one of two players who will be unavailable for the season opener when Dunfermline Athletic come to Tynecastle Park on Saturday in the Premier Sports Cup group stage.
The fixture will be Derek McInnes' first competitive match in charge as the new Hearts head coach.
However, he will be unable to call on new signing Stuart Findlay.
Findlay was sent off with two yellow cards in Kilmarnock's extra-time defeat to Motherwell in the League Cup last season. The suspension for a red card offence due to two cautions is effective immediately in the next match of the competition.
This article previously stated Yan Dhanda was set to miss the first two League Cup matches. A red card for serious foul play, like the one he picked up for a challenge on Stuart Findlay in the last game of the season, used to warrant a suspension for the next two matches, irrespective of competition.
However, a change to the rules by the Scottish FA, means a sending off for serious foul play will lead to a two-match suspension in the competition it was received in.
So, in this case, Dhanda will miss the first two league matches of the season.
