Thomas Vermaelen will undergo surgery on his right hamstring and will miss the next four to five months. The Barcelona defender's career could be in doubt as he struggles to recover from his chronic hamstring trouble, but he is hoping Finnish surgeon Sakari Orava can fix things.

Vermaelen has yet to play for Barcelona since signing with them from Arsenal in the summer. Barcelona paid Arsenal €19 million for the defender in August, who had injured his hamstring six weeks earlier at the World Cup, but he has managed just 72 minutes in a friendly since. The Belgian was training with the first team recently and looked like he might make his club debut soon, but that has been scrapped.

If Vermaelen can return in four to five months, he can still play this season. It would allow him to return in the spring, but if it becomes a six or seven month recovery time, then he will miss the entire campaign. Barcelona signed Vermaelen with the hope that he would help stabilize a shaky defense in transition and they have struggled without him so if he can return at any point this season, he would provide a nice boost.

Orava is a world renowned surgeon who specializes in muscle operations. He was the surgeon who identified Jonathan Woodgate's hamstring and thigh issues and surgically repaired them.