Arsenal defender Thomas Vermaelen confirmed that after spending seven months on the sidelines, playing again this season is out of the question.

With manager Arsene Wenger saying the Belgium International will not feature again this season, the player himself told Belgian newspaper Het Laatste Nieuws that he still has pain when running and how therefore he is to be patient before finally making his long-awaited comeback in Arsenal’s first eleven.

Vermaelen explained:

The chances that I will play another game this season are small. I can understand my manager when he says that my season is over: I have been out for seven months and I must fulfill a complete ‘pre-season’, so it’s logical that he won’t take risks.

Time is ticking away and the season finishes in two months. I must first get fit again, then gain rhythm. So I’ve still a long way to go. I can kick a ball as hard as possible, but that’s not my problem. I need to run without pain.

After surgery, you soon become impatient. I’m a player they have to slow down – that’s my problem. I felt a little pain, but I had something in my head: I’ll cope with it.

That’s wasn’t too smart: you can’t beat nature. After a few weeks I personally indicated that I had to slow down. It didn’t feel that comfortable, as it feels these days.

I always thought I would be out for six weeks [after the surgery]. That was what I was told. So I never could anticipate this long absence.

Maybe I would have preferred that I knew from the start. It has been an unexpectedly long wait for Vermaelen but it is almost over. And the Belgian credits his team-mates for helping him stay positive throughout a frustrating second season with the Club.