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Injured Yakin risks PSG wrath

Paris Saint-Germain FC's Swiss international Hakan Yakin has undergone a hernia operation.

Differing opinions
Yakin, a €1.5m summer capture from FC Basel this summer, was told by PSG that he was suffering from a recurring muscle strain that required four to six weeks' rest. However, the midfield player sought a second opinion from his personal doctor in Switzerland, Heinz Buhlmann, who ruled that he had a hernia and needed surgery.

Out for two months
Swiss Football Association spokesman, Pierre Benoit, confirmed on Friday that the 26-year-old had gone ahead with the operation, which will keep him out for at least two months. "Hakan Yakin underwent surgery at the Hirslanden clinic in Zurich at 11am on Friday," he said.

Misses qualifiers
"We have no information yet on how the operation went and can make no comment regarding his situation with Paris Saint-Germain." A two-month absence would rule Yakin out of Switzerland's remaining UEFA EURO 2004 Group 10 qualifiers against Russia and the Republic of Ireland.

'He has been manipulated'
PSG have already warned FIFA that they could put in a request to have the player's contract dissolved, but coach Vahid Halilhodzic was reluctant to blame Yakin. "A lot of people have been giving him different advice and I think he has been manipulated," said the PSG manager. "It is difficult because he does not speak French, but we have done everything we can to explain the situation to him."

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