Van Persie out for up to 5 months after surgery

Arsenal forward Robin van Persie has been ruled out for up to five months after the club said Saturday he will need surgery on the ankle injury he sustained during international duty.

The lengthy recovery will leave Arsenal without Van Persie until the final matches of the season, which also means his playing time will have been limited before going to the World Cup in June with the Netherlands.

Van Persie was carried off on a stretcher in a friendly between Netherlands and Italy earlier this month after landing badly following a tackle by Giorgio Chiellini. The 26-year-old forward tore ankle ligaments and was initially expected to return to action within six weeks.

But new tests showed the damage was more extensive, with three ligaments ruptured in the right ankle, and he is likely to be out until the final weeks of the premier league season.

Following reconstructive surgery next week in Amsterdam, a full recovery will take between four and five months, Arsenal said.

"It is so frustrating to be out for months," Van Persie said. "I was having a super season with the team. I had never felt as strong and powerful as this year. Apart from, I think, two matches, I either scored or made goals in all the games we played this season.

"I was getting so strong, that I felt nobody could stop me anymore. That is the greatest feeling you can have as a player. It is such a pity that great run has been stopped for the time being by one kick in a friendly international match."

Van Persie defended his decision to visit a Belgrade clinic to see Marijana Kovacevic, who has a reputation as a miracle healer for sports injuries by using horse placenta.

"If I had known at the time what I know now, I would have been operated (on) immediately," Van Persie told Arsenal's website from Rotterdam. "We have all been steered in the wrong direction. I have never wanted to go for alternative medical help before. Normally I am too cool for that kind of thing.

"But because I wanted to grab every opportunity to get fit again and to be back on the pitch with Arsenal, I decided to have a go ... (it) is not a bizarre thing. I did not have anything injected in my body."

Van Persie's absence is a major blow to manager Arsene Wenger whose team is in fourth place after it lost to Chelsea last weekend.

Wenger voiced his anger against the Dutch football association KNVB in Sunday's British newspapers: "Countries just take your player away for a friendly and then give him back and say: 'There you go'. It doesn't happen in any other sport. It's a joke and is so disrespectful."

Wenger was also critical of the KNVB over their initial treatment of van Persie's injury. "We have just found out that it is much worse than what they told us," he said. "If a player gets injured with his country he should be sent back to his club straight away to be checked out by their doctors, not by those of the national team."