FOOTBALL - Arsenal are to take the potentially explosive decision to take legal action against a national football federation after an injury suffered by one of their players while on international duty. Arsenal's Robin van Persie was injured while playing for the Dutch national side in a friendly against Italy in November, van Persie damaging ankle ligaments and expecting to be out for most of the remainder of the season, so Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has instructed the club's lawyers to bring legal action against the Dutch football federation the KNVB. Wenger has said: "I expect financial compensation for the damage it can make to the championship and the salary involved. It is especially frustrating to lose your players for the rest of the season in a friendly game. The question has to be raised."Wenger continued: "I am not against the national teams. But at the moment we sit here and they can do what they want. The players are paid by their clubs and get injured playing for another team. I am happy if England wins, but if we lose because England wins nobody cares about me. There is something completely wrong with the system. I want the power to be rebalanced more in favour of the clubs."
Prior to damaging his ankle ligaments while playing for Holland versus Italy, Van Persie has been injury prone during his time with Arsenal. At the time of writing Van Persie has made only 126 appearances for the Gunners since making his debut in 2004, scoring 46 goals.
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