"If you are very positive you would say [he will be back in] April," manager Arsene Wenger told the Premier League club's website on Tuesday.
"If you're a bit cautious you say May. It is virtually the rest of the season."
"When you have such a big surgery there is one thing that is important - the opinion of the surgeon. Will he be the player he was before? We had a clear answer - yes," said Wenger.
"The second thing that is very important in the first stage after surgery is, has he an infection or not? He hasn't.
"The third thing is patience. At the moment he cannot do anything, he is just sitting at home waiting until he can work again. The first two steps have been very successful," added Wenger.
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