Freddie needs to have hip surgery

Freddie Ljungberg will have surgery on his hip this weekend and will miss the first month of the new season.

The news is a blow for Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger, who is already without two international midfield players for the start of the Premiership programme.

Frenchman Robert Pires will not return until September as he recovers from a knee operation and Dutch star Giovanni van Bronckhorst is out until December after his cruciate injury.

Ljungberg will have exploratory-surgery in London this weekend to repair a small tear in the cartilage around his hip joint. The problem forced him to miss Sweden's last two World Cup matches.

He will not be back until the start of September at the earliest and Wenger is now likely to intensify his bid to bring in PSV Eindhoven's Mark van Bommel.

Meanwhile, David Seaman was told today he should extend his career with Arsenal and England because he is still the "best goalkeeper in the country." Wenger backed him to bounce back after speculation over his future following the World Cup - and made it clear Seaman, who is 39 in September, would be offered a new contract.

There had been doubts over his future since the freak goal by Brazil's Ronaldinho ended England's World Cup hopes.

Seaman was inconsolable after that quarter-final defeat.

His contract at Arsenal was due to run out this summer, but Wenger, on holiday in the south of France, said: "I will try to call David this week but he had a good World Cup.

"I can understand why Sven-Goran Eriksson wants to keep him on. David is the best goalkeeper in England."