Real Madrid faces being without striker Gonzalo Higuain until well into the New Year if rumors circulating in the Spanish press are correct.

Higuain missed last week' s Champions League game away to Ajax with a back problem that he aggravated the previous weekend, but looked set to return to the side for his side' s game away to FC Barcelona this Monday night.

However, the player was clearly limping when he arrived at Barcelona on Sunday night and although he took a place on the substitutes' bench, he was replaced in the starting 11 by Karim Benzema.

It now appears that Higuain is suffering from a hernia in the lumbar region and depending on tests that will be carried out in the next 48 hours, he may need an operation, which would keep him out of action for between two and three months.

Losing Higuain would be a major blow for Real Madrid. The striker has been top scorer in the last two seasons, netting 49 goals in the BBVA Primera Liga, while this season he has found the opposition net on seven occasions in the league.

The club has a natural replacement in Karim Benzema, who played in the Camp Nou and who appears to have been returning to form in the past few weeks. Nevertheless the Frenchman scored just eight goals last season and this year he has scored just once in the league.

Real Madrid coach Jose Mourinho doesn' t want to be left to play half a season with just two fit strikers and the club is already being linked with interest in Werder Bremen striker Hugo Almeida.

Almeida commented in Wednesday' s edition of sports paper Diario Marca that he would be delighted to play in Spain and would welcome the chance to play in Real Madrid.

The fact that Almeida shares the same agent (Jorge Mendes) as Mourinho, Cristiano Ronaldo and Pepe would also be a factor is help speed through a possible deal in the January transfer window.