Obafemi Martins may miss Nigeria's 2010 World Cup qualifying games against Kenya and Tunisia in June in his bid to help his club Newcastle avoid relegation from the English Premier League.
Martins flew to Milan last week where a specialist confirmed that he needed an operation on a troubling groin problem.
But after discussions with manager Alan Shearer, the striker has opted to postpone the procedure and play through the pain barrier to help preserve Newcastle's Premier league status.
The Nigerian international will fly to Italy for the surgery at the end of the season and is expected to be fit for the start of the new campaign.
Martins has also opted against the use of pain-killing injections after being told by the specialist that it could lead to long-term damage.
Instead, he has advised Shearer that he will only be involved when he feels properly able to perform at a high standard.
Martins will now be rested between matches in an attempt to manage his injury, and will most likely now be used as a high-impact substitute like he was against Tottenham Hotspur last weekend.
With Yakubu Aiyegbeni also injured, Nigeria coach Shuaibu Amodu will need to dig deep to find goalscoring forwards, although Joseph Akpala is also available
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