Igor Vetokele will miss the start of the season through injury – and has been ruled out for eight weeks.

The news comes as a huge blow to Charlton caretaker boss Lee Bowyer, who revealed the striker wanted to stay in SE7 for the upcoming season.

Vetokele has an acute tear in the plantar fascia on the underside of his left foot, which was sustained in the 2-1 win over Welling on Saturday.

Head of medical services Alastair Thrush said: “This is an injury that was confirmed with an ultra sound scan yesterday. It happened during the game against Welling.

“The injury is going to require a period of immobilisation in a boot to start with for a few weeks followed by a graduated loading programme.

“We anticipate that we’ll see Igor back in training again in about eight weeks’ time.”

Vetokele has been on loan in Belgium for the past two campaigns.

His Valley career has been plagued by injury since signing for the club in 2014.

He joins Charlton playmaker Ben Reeves, Billy Clarke and Anfernee Dijksteel on the sidelines.

Bowyer added: “It’s disappointing because he’s had a great start to the pre-season.

“The most important thing for me was to try and get through pre-season without any injuries but this is just a freak injury, something that you can’t control.

“He scored a good goal against QPR and did ok again at the weekend. He’s going to be a miss, he’s a good player.”