Barcelona, Spain (SportsNetwork.com) - Barcelona defender Thomas Vermaelen could miss the remainder of the season after it was revealed that he will require surgery to correct a hamstring problem.
The 29-year-old arrived at Barcelona this summer from Arsenal, but he picked up the hamstring injury at the World Cup while playing for Belgium and has yet to feature for the Catalan side.
Vermaelen has trained with the side but has yet to be cleared to play. And now that it has been determined that he will require surgery, he could miss the remainder of the campaign with the recovery time expected to be 4-6 months.
Following the retirement of Carles Puyol, Barca recruited both Vermaelen and Jeremy Mathieu to the Camp Nou, with Mathieu featuring in 10 of Barca's 12 games in La Liga this season.
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