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Mikel Arteta is set to undergo surgery in Spain after being ruled out of action for the rest of the season.
Scans have confirmed the Spanish playmaker ruptured his cruciate knee ligament in his right leg during Sunday's goalless draw at Newcastle - an injury which could take up to six months to heal.
Arteta suffered the damage just three minutes into Sunday's contest at St James' Park.
He was stretchered off after receiving treatment from Everton head physio Mick Rathbone and Club doctor Ian Irving and was en route back to Merseyside before the end of the first half of the Premier League encounter.
He underwent a succession of scans on his knee on Sunday night to ascertain the full extent of the injury, with the results revealing he has no chance of pulling on an Everton jersey again this term.
And it was Rathbone who had the unenviable task of breaking the bad news to Everton’s skillful midfielder.
“When he came off the pitch I spoke to Mikel and said: ‘Sorry mate, but this is a bad injury,’” Rathbone told evertonTV, “but he knew anyway. He’s not daft, he a very smart guy.
“We’re looking at him being out for about six months. We don’t want to hurry Mikel, we don’t hurry any of the players back, but we are looking at the start of next season now.
“He’s very down, but he’s a mature guy, he’s a top sportsman and he knows that one of the hazards of being a top class sportsman is that you get injured. He is somewhat philosophical and is already talking about getting back playing next season.
“So we don’t wallow in it, it’s football, it happens. We just need to get it operated on and get him back.”
Arteta is set to travel to Barcelona next week to undergo surgery on the injury and Rathbone says he is in safe hands.
“We weren’t actually waiting on the scan because we knew instantly what he had done," Rathbone said. “I said to the doctor straight away: ‘that’s a cruciate’.
"He’s going to have surgery early next week in Barcelona. We use three surgeons – the best in Britain, the best in Europe and the best in America. Clearly it suits Mikel to use the Spanish guy and he is very happy with the choice.”
kai gilbert
comon phil and tim rally the troops on
Agree with kai?
Monday 16th Mar 2009 17:17