The injured striker of Manchester City Valeri Bojinov could recover before Christmas 2007.

Bojinov suffers from a knee ligament injury that originally “looked set to rule him out until February” 2008, UK’s Manchester Evening News said.

Bojinov was injured in the first 10 minutes of Manchester City’s victory match over neighbours Manchester United in August 2007.

The injury of the striker was “a major blow to the City, as Eriksson had pinned his hopes on Bojinov making a big impact in the Premier League”, Manchester Evening News said. Manchester City payed close to six million pounds for the Bulgarian.

Bojinov is “quickly back on his feet” after the knee operation and has already started rehabilitation programme.

Eriksson said that “Bojinov told me he would be back in three months.” “We will have to see,” he said.