The Zimbabwe international pulled a muscle in training, leaving City desperately short of attacking options with the 2008/09 campaign drawing ever closer.

The club's record signing, Jo, has joined up with the Brazil squad ahead of the Beijing Olympics, while Bernado Corradi and Rolando Bianchi are expected to depart Eastlands this summer.

That means that Darius Vassell, who has been utilised more as a winger in recent times, and Valeri Bojinov, who missed most of last season through injury, are Mark Hughes' only senior strikers.

"Unfortunately he picked it up a couple of days ago, he pulled a thigh muscle quite badly and the medical staff reckon he won't be available until into the new season," Hughes told the club's official website.

"They have to wait for the muscle to heal and then for the strength to come back, and that will need a lot of work. It's a big disappointment for me, but also for the lad himself because he was hoping to hit the ground running.

"Benjani ended last season quite well, and it is a shame but these things happen. You will always pick up injuries in pre-season, you hope that they will be slight ones that players can get over, but unfortunately this is a little bit more than that.

"We were quite strong, bodies-wise, we had quite a number of forward-thinking players but it could be that as we progress over the next couple of weeks we will be shorter than we thought we were going to be. We will have to have a look at it, we talk about how the balance of the squad needs to be right so we will make sure we will have enough strength there. It's a blow, and it was not something we were anticipating."

Having accepted that he may be forced to bolster his strike force over the coming weeks, Hughes has been linked with moves for West Ham's Craig Bellamy, Blackburn's Roque Santa Cruz and Marseille's Djibril Cisse.