Injury Blow After Barcelona Defeat

Dundee United will kick-off the 2007/08 campaign without the club`s 1st choice goalkeeper, 1st choice striker and no.....Mark Kerr.

Polish goalkeeper Lukasz Zaluska is out for another 5 weeks with a broken bone in his foot, which he picked up during the 3-0 victory over Airdrie last week.

Whilst, striker Jon Daly is still out with a knee injury he picked up against Inverness Caley Thistle at the end of April and isn`t expected to make his return to 1st team football until October/November at the earliest.

Midfielder Mark Kerr is out for upto 6 weeks, after tearing a calf muscle in the Barcelona friendly last Thursday night.

25-year-old Kerr played in almost every Dundee United games last season, only missing the meaningless matches against Dunfermline(a) and Caley Thistle(h) near the end of the campaign.

"Mark has torn his calf muscle," admitted manager Levein to the Daily Record.

"His injury was the only blot on a near-perfect night. It was a great occasion for the club, the fans and the players."

"We were very unlucky to lose but the game served its purpose."

Kerr limped off with around 10minutes remaining in the Barcelona exhibition match, to be replaced by substitute Stuart Duff, at a time when the score was still 0-0.

It wasn`t until the final moments, when former Arsenal captain Thierry Henry score at his 2nd attempt from a penalty kick, after loan-keeper Grzegorz Szamotulski saved his 1st attempt, but couldn`t hold onto the ball.

Manager Craig Levein has seen the injuries mount up in recent weeks, with defender Lee Wilkie struggling with a knee injury and striker Noel Hunt trying to recover from a groin strain.