Santos midfielder Paulo Henrique Ganso, considered one of the brightest young Brazilian stars to have come along in the last decade, will be sidelined for six months after he damaged his anterior cruciate ligament and cartilage in his left knee during Wednesday’s Brazilian championship match against Gremio.

Ganso's injury came just three weeks after he debuted for Brazil in its 2-0 win over the United States. Santos has already won the the Paulista state championship and the Copa Brasil in large part due to the play of Ganso and Neymar, its other young star.

Santos recently re-signed Neymar to a deal that will keep him for moving to Europe. It has hoped to do the same with Ganso, enlisting the support of sponsors to pay him enough to keep him at home.