The 27-year-old traveled to Germany on December 4th to have the full extent of his injury determined and to spend up to three weeks of rehabilitation.

According to recent medical tests he underwent, Zaki will remain on the sidelines for over another month and a half in order to reach full recovery.

"The latest examinations indicated that I have nearly recuperated from the injury and will soon be able to take part in normal training," the well-built hitman told Modern TV.

"I need stay for another two weeks in Germany to finish my rehab and should get back to Cairo by the end of the month.

"Afterwards, I should be training normally and become fit to play early in February or midway through it."

Zaki sustained the nagging knee injury while featuring for Zamalek in a friendly against lower division side Shams on October 14th after colliding with a challenger.

He was expected to shake off the problem in a fortnight but his injury turned out to be more serious than initially thought.

It's understood that the former Wigan Athletic star ruptured his anterior knee ligament in the collision.

Now Zaki has been confirmed out of the Cairo derby between Ahli and Zamalek on December 30th.

The Mansoura-born player has been consistently struggling with injury and fitness problems during the past couple of years.

He was forced to miss Egypt's 2009 Confederations Cup campaign as well as the 2010 Africa Cup of Nations in Angola, which the Pharaohs won.