Michael Owen will miss England’s two Euro 2008 qualifiers in October after suffering a tear in his groin.
The 27-year-old will see a specialist on Thursday to discover whether he also requires a hernia operation.
“It will be three weeks out and he will miss England with his groin,” said Newcastle manager Sam Allardyce.
“Michael would miss England anyway with his groin tear so we might as well check up to see whether he needs a hernia operation.”
Owen, who has a tear in his abductor muscle, is understood to have seen a surgeon in Bradford earlier this week to determine the extent of his problem.
“Owen will probably need another operation but the other specialist has not told us that yet,” added Allardyce.
“Whoever does the surgery cannot say whether he needs a hernia operation or not until they have seen him, unless they are magic and they can see over here from Germany.”
Owen’s latest injury blow is just the latest in a series of setbacks suffered since the striker arrived at Newcastle in 2005.
In December 2005 he broke a metatarsal at Spurs, and was out for several months. Shortly after his return to full fitness Owen injured his knee playing for England, and missed all but last three games of following season. His latest injury comes in the wake of a thigh strain suffered in pre-season training that forced him to miss the beginning of the current campaign.
England face key Euro 2008 qualifiers against Estonia and Russia on 13 and 17 October.
Owen scored three times in September’s qualifying victories over Israel and Russia after missing almost the entire 2006-07 season as a result of a cruciate ligament injury suffered at the 2006 World Cup finals.
England coach Steve McClaren is already without Emile Heskey, who partnered Owen up front for both those wins, after the Wigan striker suffered a broken metatarsal on 15 September.
