Bundesliga top goal scorer Serhou Guirassy “will not be available for a few weeks” due to a hamstring injury, the striker’s club Stuttgart announced on Sunday.
Guirassy has 14 goals in his first eight games this season, sitting five clear of Bayern Munich’s Harry Kane atop the scoring charts.
The France-born Guinea striker opened the scoring in Stuttgart’s 3-0 win at Union Berlin on Saturday, but was subbed out after just 30 minutes.
Stuttgart manager Sebastian Hoeness called the striker’s loss “bitter for him personally and for the team”.
“Everyone has seen what great shape Serhou was in recently. We must and will compensate for his loss as best as possible,” Hoeness said in a statement.
The striker has scored in all but one of Stuttgart’s league fixtures this season and has already surpassed his total of 11 goals last season.
Guirassy’s stunning form has helped Stuttgart, who needed to win a two-legged playoff against second-division Hamburg to stay in the league last season, to second place on the ladder this season.
The forward is only the second player in Europe’s top-five leagues to score 14 or more goals in his first eight games, after Cristiano Ronaldo for Real Madrid in 2014-15.