DONS boss Mark McGhee has confirmed that charismatic defender Zander Diamond is "nowhere near" a return to the first team.
The fiery centre-back had ankle surgery in the summer in an attempt to put an end to two years of on-and-off injury problems.
But the 24-year-old, who has attempted two comebacks in the last seven months is unable to train at all now.
Aberdeen had been counting on a series of injections to enable Diamond to face Hearts in two weeks' time, but McGhee admitted that had failed.
He said: "[Diamond] is nowhere near a comeback. It's a big worry and we are awaiting a reading on the latest scan on his injured foot.
"We're not even thinking about playing Zander until we get to the bottom of the problem."
McGhee will now be hoping that defender Jerel Ifil will be able to return from a hamstring strain for the visit of Hearts on October 17th.
Ifil suffered the injury during Aberdeen's goalless draw against Rangers – their fifth consecutive SPL clean sheet – and missed the Kilmarnock game at the weekend where the Dons lost that record on the back of some shaky defending.
