Arsenal star Robert Pires will definitely not recover from his cruciate ligament injury in time for the World Cup, according to the surgeon who examined him on Monday.
Professor Jean-Henri Jaeger examined Pires’ right knee in Strasbourg on Monday and today contradicted reports from French team doctor, Jean-Marcel Ferret, that the midfielder still had an outside chance of travelling to the World Cup finals.
"I do not want to start a conflict of interests with Doctor Ferret, who is not a surgeon.
"If, for psychological reasons, some have decided to make Robert believe that a miracle is possible, then why not?
"I saw his despair when I told him the news on Monday morning. He must be really confused now."
Ferret argued that Pires should wait and see how the injury evolves over the next three weeks, hinting that there may have already been a defect in the ligament before he was injured last weekend against Newcastle.
If that was the case, Ferret believes a period of rest followed by specialist training could get the player back on course for Korea and Japan.
But Jaeger told L'Equipe:"I personally think there is no chance of recovery, simply because the cruciate ligament is not in the right place and it will be impossible for it to find some stability.