Arsenal midfielder Robert Pires has opted to go under the knife rather than risk further injury setbacks.
The France international's World Cup dream was swept away when he injured his cruciate knee ligament during Arsenal's 3-2 win over Newcastle on March 23rd.
He underwent knee flexibility tests on his knee on Wednesday which revealed that the injury was reacting exceptionally well to treatment.
But the 28-year-old has chosen to go for an operation anyway after meeting with sports injury specialist Jean Pierre Franceschi in Marseille yesterday.
"Professor Franceschi said it was better to go for the operation even if I was not that far from avoiding it," Pires told L'Equipe.
"What is incredible is that I am perfectly able to run, if I was asked to run 10 kilometres, I could do it without any problem.
"As far as the flexibility is concerned my injured knee reacts almost as well as the normal one.
"But the professor told me there is no guarantee it will not break in two months time so I decided not to take any risk."
PA