MARTIN Paterson may be sent for specialist treatment in Germany after suffering a recurrence of the thigh injury that kept him out for much of last season.

The Clarets striker came off at half-time of Saturday’s opening day game with Watford and scans this week revealed a ‘grade two’ tear of his thigh muscle.

Manager Eddie Howe described it as 'quite rare' to suffer the same problem repeatedly.

Paterson broke down twice with the same injury injury in November and then January last term, and missed the remainder of the campaign.

But Burnely are determined to find a cure for the problem.

“It’s a real blow for Martin and for us,” said Howe.

“We just want to get him fit and we’ll do whatever it takes.

"If that means sending him abroad for treatment, whatever it may be, whether we look abroad for alternatives methods of treatment now.

“We’re talking to several people to see the best course of action.

“It’s a little bit too early to say where we’re going to send him.

“There are things out there, there are people abroad – in Germany – who come highly recommended and are specialists in this type of injury.

“It’s quite rare that you get the same injury recurring like this, so we maybe need to attack it from a different angle.”