Ricardo Vaz Te has undergone surgery to fix the dislocated shoulder he sustained during the 3-1 defeat against Arsenal 10 days ago.
The Portuguese winger suffered the fluke injury after falling over Gunners 'keeper Vito Mannone during the second half of the match and was told that he would be out of action for six to 12 weeks as a result, as first revealed here on KUMB.com.According to the club's website, surgery was deemed necessary - even though it could keep the 25-year-old out of action until the new year.
"Head of Sports Medicine Andy Rolls and his medical team have been working with Vaz Te since the match to determine the right course of treatment," read a report on whufc.com.
"It was decided that keyhole surgery was the best long-term solution to ensure there were no further complications.
"After being kept in hospital overnight for observation Vaz Te will now start his rehabilitation, which is expected to take up to 12 weeks."
Manager Sam Allardyce added: "There would have been a slightly quicker option to get him back but we would have been unsure on the stability of the shoulder and it could have been more susceptible to dislocate again.
"We think we've chosen the best option to strengthen the shoulder and get him back as quickly as we can."
Vaz Te moved to West Ham in January of this year and quickly became a vital part of the promotion-winning side. The former Bolton forward scored 12 goals in just 18 appearances in the Championship.
This season, prior to sustaining the injury against Arsenal, he had managed to score just once in nine outings - that coming in the 2-1 win against QPR at Loftus Road at the beginning of October.
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