'Missed' injury costs Benayoun six months out

Yossi Benayoun yesterday said Chelsea's medical staff "missed" the seriousness of the Achilles injury that could rule him out of action until April.

Chelsea last night confirmed they do not expect Benayoun, who signed from Liverpool for £5.5m last summer, to return for six months. The midfielder however gave an interview to The Jewish Chronicle in which he said Chelsea's highly-rated medical team failed to spot that he has a badly torn Achilles tendon despite six different scans.

The Israeli is to undergo surgery in Finland on Monday by Dr Sakari Orava, the same orthopaedic surgeon who operated on David Beckham earlier this year. The seriousness of the problem only came to light last week when Benayoun turned up in Tel Aviv to report for international duty and underwent an MRI scan there. The results of that scan were confirmed this week by a Swedish specialist in London.

Benayoun said: "This entire situation is very strange. I had three MRIs and three ultrasounds and they all said that there was no problem, and it was just a small tear."