Sampdoria have suffered an injury blow with the news that Maxi Lopez will be missing for over a month with a knee injury.

The Argentine sustained the injury during Sunday's 2-1 defeat to Atalanta and will now go under the knife in a bid to cure the problem.

"I felt strong pain, but I didn't really understand straight away what I had done," Football Italia quotes the 28-year-old as saying.

"It was only at the end of the game that I realised what has now unfortunately been confirmed by the tests.

"I won't give up though and there is no point crying over spilt milk. After the operation all I will think about is getting back to work."

Lopez has scored three goals in nine appearances since moving from Catania on a season-long loan.