Diamond has only played for 80 minutes this season

Aberdeen defender Zander Diamond faces at least another six weeks on the sidelines through injury.

The centre-back will undergo surgery to pin together two bones in his lower leg after being troubled by a bruised foot since the opening game of the season.

"We feel as if we have now got to the bottom of it and we look forward to seeing Zander back before Christmas," boss Mark McGhee told the club website.

"It's a proven procedure, it's not all that common, but it's proven."

Diamond missed both legs of the Uefa Cup trouncing from Sigma Olomouc through injury and the problem was aggravated after a collision with team-mate Mark Kerr during the 3-1 home loss to Celtic on 15 August.

"We now seem to have had a definitive diagnosis, where the ligament between the two main bones in his leg near the ankle seem to be separating in a way they shouldn't and require fixing," explained McGhee.

"People might ask 'how does it take this amount of time to get to this point?'

"We ask the same question but these things are like that, you almost have to weed it out. It wasn't simple, it took several scans and several opinions."

Meanwhile, Dons winger Sone Aluko is also expected to resume training on Monday after Nigeria were knocked out of the Under-20 World Cup by Germany.

"We expect to see Sone any day now," McGhee said.

"We hope Sone will pack up his bags and get himself back here for the weekend, ready for training on Monday, and ready to destroy Hearts on the Saturday."

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