ALBANIAN ace Besart Berisha must wait until next season before making his Burnley debut after being ruled out for the season with a cruciate knee ligament injury.

The 22-year-old summer signing was hoping to be released from hospital today following surgery to repair the damage he sustained while on international duty three weeks ago, in the 3-0 friendly win over Malta in which he scored.

But while manager Steve Cotterill says he could be back at Turf Moor as early as tomorrow, for a watching brief as the Clarets host neighbours Blackpool, he stressed there was a long rehabilitation road ahead for the former Hamburg youngster.

"It's bad news, Besart's snapped his cruciate and he's had it operated. He'll be out for the season," said Cotterill, who signed Berisha for £340,000 on a three-year deal in July.

"We needed to try and keep that one a little bit under wraps until he went under the surgeon's knife, we didn't want to give out any inaccurate information.

"We couldn't tell with the scans on his knee, so we had to play it down a bit, for his sake, but because he had fluid in and around, the scans were a bit muddled, and before you go in for an operation, you need the knee to settle down a little bit.

"We're very disappointed and upset for him, but it's just something and now we've come to terms with it, while it will be a shock to people, we've known about it for a little while."

But Cotterill expects Berisha to make a full recovery.

"The injury isn't so much career-threatening any more, I think, if a cruciate snaps, as long as the cartilage in and around it is intact, there's no reason why you can't come back from them," he said.

"The problems occur when cartilage is ripped and torn and shredded and irreplacable that you get instability in knees."

Nevertheless, the extent of the injury and lengthy lay-off will come as a massive blow to Berisha, who was prepared to bide his time in breaking into the first team while he got used to the English style of play. His only appearance in the 16 this season was for Burnley's Carling Cup first round game at Grimsby, where he was an unused substitute.

"I would have hoped, certainly by Christmas, and the start of the New Year, I think things may have dropped in place for him," said Cotterill.

"I think he generally found it tough, it's different in pre-season games to when you get into the run of the Championship, but, as I say, there's nothing we can do about that now.

"We've just got to move on and so has he."

He added: "I wouldn't say he took (the news) very well, when we went down and had another scan when the knee had settled down, and then we decided the next step was an orthroscopy, which is a small incision in the knee, where you put a camera in and have a look.

"We didn't want to open the knee, to close the knee, to go back in again a week later, because that doesn't help him, so we wanted to make sure he only had one anaesthetic, and when he woke up, his knee was going to be brand new again.

"We didn't take the decision lightly, it was quite a big one, we discussed it backwards and forwards, and that's it.

"He's not going to be around for the year now.

"But he'll be fine, he'll be looked after, just like any other injured player is here, and we'll look to see him back in pre-season I would imagine.

"He'll be on the training pitch before then, but they take a while to heal, these grafts."

Berisha's injury had already ready ruled him out of Albania's Euro 2008 qualifier with Holland this week, while the five other Clarets who were away with their respective countries, have all reported back fit for tomorrow's Lancashire derby at home to Blackpool.

"I've spoken to them and they all seem to be okay," said Cotterill of Northern Ireland trio Michael Duff, Steve Jones and Kiyle Lafferty, Iceland midfielder Joey Gudjonsson and Scotland defender Graham Alexander, who was jubilant after their 1-0 win in France to put them top of the group. "We're looking forward to having them back."