Exeter winger Campbell Ridl is set to miss much of the season after suffering a knee ligament injury.

Ridl had been one of the breakout stars of last season, scoring 17 tries in 24 games including one in Exeter’s Prem final loss to Northampton Saints at Twickenham.

The 21-year-old, an England Under-20 player, was hurt in Exeter’s opening pre-season game when they lost to Welsh side Scarlets earlier this month.

It is the latest injury blow for Exeter, who will be without Italy lock Andrea Zambonin until November with a shoulder problem.

“It’s a pretty significant knee injury, it’s ACL (anterior cruciate ligament) with bits and pieces, which looks like cartilage damage as well,” Exeter director of rugby Rob Baxter told BBC Sport.

“You’re talking majority of the season. Good ones can recover pretty quickly and a really fast rehab can be around six months, and then you talk anything up to the nine-month period and beyond if there’s more complications.

“I don’t think it’s going to be a six-month one because of the other bits that have also been damaged in the knee, so unfortunately for Campbell it’s going to be relatively long-term this season.”

Ridl was hurt as he slowed down to get a pass away in Exeter’s opening pre-season game, rather than being injured in contact. He tried to play on but was forced to come off the field a few minutes after being hurt.

It is a blow for a player who was seen as one of the brightest prospects in English rugby last season.

He scored back-to-back hat-tricks in Prem Rugby Cup games in February and notched six tries in six Prem games between mid-March and mid-May.

“There’s never a good time to have a serious injury,” added Baxter.

“But having it at a time when he’s played his first decent amount of adult rugby in a proper, tough, long season… now he’s got that opportunity to really work on his physical development because obviously the challenges of being ready to play games every weekend are not going to be there.

“There’s a good deal of physical development he’ll be able to do while he’s recovering from injury.

“He’s also at university and deep in studies, so you’ve got to try to look at the positives of these things.

“If it gives him a period of really good development, getting on top of university studies, getting things really in line for next season then you’ve got to try and look at this as part of the development process he’s going to go through over the next five or six years of his career.”