PITSO Mosimane can forget about David Somma helping in Bafana Bafana's World Cup qualifiers until next year.

Somma's return to active football following an anterior cruciate ligament injury has been postponed again after a second operation. He is even unlikely to make the start of next season in August.

South Africa play their last World Cup qualifiers of the year in June before resuming next year with a game against the Central African Republic on March 23.

The 26-year-old Johannesburg-born player, who has three Bafana caps, has been out of football since July last year when he was injured in a behind-closed-doors friendly staged at Leeds' training ground in Thorp Arch.

Last season he scored 12 goals in 32 games for Leeds in the English Championship before being injured.

It was that kind of red-hot form which persuaded Bafana coach Mosimane to call him up for his debut in a friendly against the USA in November 2010.

The injury, which at first was expected to keep him out for six months, now appears to be more serious and he is likely to return a year after being hurt.

Last week he had another operation on the knee but has been assured by doctors that he will be ready to play at some time next season.

Somma has been assured by Neil Warnock that he is very much part of the new manager's plans. Leeds say they are not pushing Somma's recovery. There is no fixed timescale for the comeback, with pre-season training likely to begin in early July.

At the time of his original operation, former manager Simon Grayson warned of a long road ahead, saying Somma was "looking at a time-scale of months".

The absence of a proven goalscorer has weakened the strength of a squad that Warnock called "thin on the ground".