Michael Owen is facing the possibility of having hernia surgery this week and so missing England's crucial Euro 2008 qualifiers against Estonia and Russia next month.
Hobbling slightly, Owen, who had been unusually ineffective, was withdrawn early in the second half of Newcastle United's 3-1 win at home to West Ham United yesterday and Sam Allardyce later offered a gloomy prognosis.
Until yesterday Newcastle's manager had played down reliably sourced suggestions that Owen, who has been nursing a groin problem for weeks, definitely required surgery, but last night he suggested that the operation - which would keep his €24 million striker out for three to six weeks - was a strong possibility after all.
"I'm worried. We'll know the full extent of it tomorrow, but Michael's groin problem is persistent and we're going to have to look into it more deeply," said Allardyce, who will have noted that Owen appeared incapable of his customary acceleration.
"We'll scan it again, get a specialist opinion and see where we go from there. If it's the case that Michael needs an operation he'll have it straight away. If he needs it, the problem must be addressed immediately, for Michael's sake. And, if it needs to be surgery, we'll find the best surgeon in the world."
It is understood that Owen - forced off in similar circumstances at Derby last Monday - had hoped that a hospital visit could be delayed until December, but the elaborate warm-up exercises he undertakes before games in an attempt to assuage the problem clearly failed to do the trick at St James' Park yesterday when he visibly weakened with every passing minute.
Indeed, even if surgery was delayed, the striker would be little use to McClaren in this form.
Meanwhile, Allardyce is mindful that Obafemi Martins, the pacey striker who replaced Owen here, will be absent in the New Year when he is scheduled to play for Nigeria in the African Cup of Nations.
This latest setback represents yet more bad luck for Owen, who has spent much of the past two seasons sidelined with first a fractured foot and then a torn cruciate ligament.
His hopes of completing a full pre-season were dashed by a thigh strain, but the striker still managed to return to form with five goals in four games for England and Newcastle before this latest injury struck.
Meanwhile, Mick McCarthy singled out the performance of Dubliner Andy Keogh after he helped Wolves claim a 2-0 win over a lacklustre Norwich side at Molineux at the weekend.
Keogh added a second goal in the 34th minute with a fine individual effort after fellow Republic of Ireland squad member Kevin Foley had given the hosts the lead 12 minutes earlier.
Keogh picked up the ball on the edge of the centre circle as Wolves went on the counter attack.
The striker evaded several challenges before dribbling past Norwich defender and Donegal man Gary Doherty and striking the ball low into the bottom-left corner.
"Andy Keogh was brilliant, he's been putting the ball in the net all the time in training so I am delighted for him," Wolves manager McCarthy said. "He is the one person here who thoroughly deserved to stay in the team because of his effort.
"Somebody who works as hard as he does earns a right to play football for this club and although people were asking why he was in the team because he had not scored I think he has proved with the goal what he can do."
