BLACKBURN Rovers defender Ryan Nelsen will fly to Europe next week for an operation on his troublesome hamstring injury.

The New Zealand international has not kicked a ball in anger for the first team since he first picked up the problem at the start of pre-season.

Now Rovers' medical staff have decided to send the 28-year-old to one of the world's leading specialists in a bid to finallyget to the root of a problem which has been troubling him for months.

The former DC United star, who recently signed a new four-year contract with the club, has been undergoing intensive treatment at Rovers' Brockhall training base since the middle of July but, worryingly for manager Mark Hughes, the injury has shown no signs of clearing up.

Now the club have decided the next step is surgery so Nelsen will undergo an operation in Finland next Tuesday, which is set to rule him out for the foreseeable future.

Few surgeons in Britain have previous experience of the type of surgery Nelsen needs, which involves reattaching part of the torn hamstring, hence the decision to send him abroad.

However, the expert he is due to see has a history of success with this type of problem and the club are hoping the Kiwi could be back in weeks rather than months if all goes to plan.

Nevertheless, the fact Nelsen needs surgery at all is a setback for Hughes, who has missed his star defender's calming influence in the opening weeks of the new season.

Nelsen will definitely miss both legs of Rovers' UEFA Cup tie with Salzburg, the first of which takes place in Austria next week.

Andre Ooijer and Zurab Khizanishvili are set to form the basis of Hughes' defence in Nelsen's absence.