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Premier League: Man City’s Benjani to miss start of season Wed. July 23, 2008 05:57 am.- By Bonny Apunyu. - (SomaliNet) Suffering from a thigh injury, Manchester City striker Benjani is set to miss the start of the new season. Man City Manager Mark Hughes's side will begin their 2008/09 campaign with extremely limited attacking options after the Zimbabwe international pulled a thigh muscle in training. With club record signing Jo away with the Brazil squad for the Olympics, Georgios Samaras sold to Celtic and Italian duo Bernado Corradi and Rolando Bianchi also expected to make permanent moves out of the club, Darius Vassell and Valeri Bojinov will be the only two senior strikers available to Hughes. Vassell was used as a winger as often as up front by former boss Sven-Goran Eriksson last season, while injury limited Bulgarian striker Bojinov to just three appearances following his arrival in the summer. Hughes told the club's official website: "Unfortunately he [Benjani] 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. "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." Hughes has a considerable transfer budget to draw from should he wish to bolster his squad, with West Ham's Craig Bellamy and former Blackburn charge Roque Santa Cruz among the names being linked with a move to Eastlands. However, the Welshman may call upon 19-year-old striker Ched Evans, who has impressed during his loan spell at Norwich City last season, where he scored 10 goals in 28 appearances. As well as the Welsh teenager, there is also the possibility of England under-19 international Daniel Sturridge seeing more first-team action, having scored twice for City under Eriksson. Hughes added: "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."-Eurosport. News Category: Sports Latest Headlines Latest News Iraqi: Law maker killed in bomb attack ... Pakistan: Roadside bomb kills 11 in Pakistan US to revise North Korea's terrorism blacklist status... Belgium: 500 kilos of cocaine found in tuna shipment<... Nigeria: Senior official not guilty over $40 million... Ethiopia: 4.6 million Ethiopian now need emergency ... Africa: AU chairman urges world not to cut aid to Af... DR Congo: Gov’t asks UN council to meet on Rwandan i... South Africa: ANC likely to split says leading dissi... Libya cuts oil supplies to Switzerland ... More News...