Right now it's just waiting till he'll be back
Arsene Wenger eases Robin van Persie fears to insist the Arsenal striker will be back to his best by end of the seasonArsene Wenger expects that his Arsenal striker Robin van Persie will fully recover from his ankle injury and should be fit to play again this season.
Gunners officials have dismissed fears that the Holland striker's career is not in jeopardy following the ligament damage he sustained while on international duty last month.
Wenger is furious at what he sees as a mishandling of the injury by Holland, but he says the 26-year-old is on the road to recovery and has not suffered infection since having surgery.
Agony: Van Persie clutches his ankle during Holland match with Italy last month
Hot shot: Van Persie had been in hot form before the injury
'When you have such a big surgery, the opinion of the surgeon is important,' said Wenger. 'Will he be the player he was before? We had a clear answer: yes.'
Wenger said if the recovery goes extremely well, Van Persie could be back in April. But the manager acknowledged that May was a more likely scenario.
'At the moment, he can't do anything. He's just sitting at home and waiting to work again,' said Wenger. 'It's virtually the rest of the season. I haven't personally said that to Robin. Hopefully, we'll have a good surprise.'
Van Persie at first predicted he would be out for four-six weeks and sought help from Serb placenta doctor Marijana Kovacevic in a bid to avoid going under the knife, but the damage was worse than first feared.
Wenger has explored claiming compensation from the Dutch FA, but Holland will be warmed by the latest medical update, which puts Van Persie in line to play at next summer's World Cup finals.