Everton's Steven Pienaar to miss start of the Premier League season

Everton's South African winger Steven Pienaar will miss the start of the Premier League season with a hamstring injury suffered in training.

Toffees manager Robert Martinez has admitted that despite not knowing the extent of the injury, Pienaar will miss the club's opening weekend match to Watford at Goodison Park, according to Everton's official website.

"Obviously it was a really sad moment for all of us when Stevie picked up that injury in training," Martinez told evertontv. "He's gone back now to be fully assessed by our medical team at Finch Farm and we'll get the results very soon."

Martinez continued, "But it does seem it's a problem with his hamstring and clearly he's going to miss the start of the season, which is a real shame because Stevie worked with fantastic results and fantastic signs over the first three weeks or pre-season."

Pienaar joined Everton on a permanent move in 2007 following a year-long loan at the Merseyside club from Borussia Dortmund. He was then sold to Tottenham prior to the 2011 campaign, where he played for one season before being loaned back to Everton and finalizing a transfer in 2012.

Pienaar has been hampered by recurring hamstring issues during his time at Everton. He appeared in only nine Premier League matches last season during a campaign in which the club finished in 11th place, 40 points off the top.

Should the Toffees hope to improve in 2015-16, Pienaar's passing skills on the wing and experience will be needed.

Though, Martinez seems painfully aware of this.

"We were very, very down about that situation and we hope to get Stevie back as soon as we can."