Belgium Coach Marc Wilmots has admitted he is concerned about the injury to Barcelona centre-back Thomas Vermaelen.
The 28-year-old was bought from Arsenal for a reported €18m in the summer, but has yet to make an appearance for the Blaugrana after arriving at the Camp Nou suffering from a series of injuries that had troubled him for the previous 12 months.
Vermaelen’s last outing for Belgium was in a 1-0 defeat of Russia in the this year’s World Cup, when he lasted just 31 minutes and needed to substituted, and there have been rumours in Spain this week that he may need to undergo a hamstring operation.
However, Wilmots told reporters that planned to meet the player following the international break to discover his situation.
“The rumours in Spain he requires an operation? I don’t know anything about that.
“I’m going to Barcelona next week and I’ll find out then how he really feels,” he asserted.
