LONDON, United Kingdom (CMC) – English Premier League club Aston Villa have confirmed that Reggae Boy winger Leon Bailey has suffered a fresh injury blow that will keep him out of action until after Christmas.

Bailey, 24, pulled up holding his thigh after sprinting in the first half an hour of last Wednesday’s 2-1 defeat against Manchester City. He was replaced in that game by Ashley Young and was seen heading down the tunnel visibly upset.

Ahead of Villa’s match against Leicester on Sunday (which Villa won 2-1), manager Steven Gerrard said: “Unfortunately, he’s [Bailey] had a scan and that has confirmed there is a muscle injury.”

“It’s going to be quite a long one, so he’ll be missing for a number of weeks and you won’t see him before Christmas,” Gerrard continued.

Bailey, who completed a £30 million (US$39.7 million) move from German club Bayer Leverkusen in the summer, limped off the field in Villa’s matchup against Everton at Villa Park back in September. Bailey made a brilliant 21-minute cameo in which he scored with a thunderous shot that wrapped up Villa’s 3-0 win.

He returned from that quad injury in October and was handed his first start of the season in a 4-1 defeat against West Ham United.

The Jamaican’s injury-marred start to life at Villa Park has seen him play just 423 minutes of football in the Premier League, but the FootballFanCast website said the player had already made a huge impact in his short time at the club.

“As one of the club’s marquee summer signings, it’s been desperately disappointing to see Bailey spend so much time off the field rather than on it, and this latest niggling problem is sure to have Gerrard absolutely gutted at not being able to count on him for the foreseeable future,” the website reported.