Arsenal's Robin Van Persie Sidelined For Five Months

Arsenal has been rocked by the news that their key striker Robin van Persie will be unavailable for five months.

The flying Dutchman, injured during the friendly international between the Netherlands and Italy, was originally thought to be out for between five and six weeks, but further tests have shown he has ruptured ankle ligaments.

Despite undergoing treatment with horse placenta in Serbia, the club's medical team have discovered the treatment was futile given the nature of the injury, and van Persie will undergo surgery in Amsterdam next week to reconstruct the ligaments.

The news comes at a particularly bad time for manager Arsene Wenger who is already without Danish striker Nicklas Bendtner until mid-December following groin surgery, while Theo Walcott is struggling with a knee problem.

That leaves the Frenchman with just one experienced forward in Andriy Arshavin, along with an out-of-sorts Eduardo, and youngster Carlos Vela heading into a busy winter period that includes key games against Chelsea tomorrow, and Liverpool on December 13th, while games against Manchester United and Chelsea also feature at the end of January and start of February.

Despite calls for Wenger to bolster his young squad with a robust, experienced defensive midfielder, and central defensive cover for William Gallas and Thomas Vermaelen, Wenger must now use the January transfer window to find an experienced target man.

If we believe the word of the board, the money is there for Wenger to spend, if he wants to, and it certainly should be after the sale of Emmanuel Adebayor and Kolo Toure to the Bank of Manchester City.

The question, however, is who should Wenger buy? As ever, when clubs know you're desperate for a player, the price becomes inflated, and with Chelsea, Man Utd, Man City, Real Madrid and Barcelona still throwing money round like there's no recession, Wenger will find it difficult to bring a prime world-class player in without paying more than he'd like.