Soccer: Season ending injury 'nothing major' - Nelsen

All Whites' captain Ryan Nelson. Photo / Paul Estcourt

All Whites captain Ryan Nelsen will miss the rest of the English Premier League soccer season with Blackburn Rovers after undergoing knee surgery.

Blackburn manager Steve Kean said the 33-year-old central defender delayed surgery until Monday to play as many games as possible for the relegation-threatened club.

He will now miss the final six matches and is not expected to be fit to play again until August, ruling him out of potential New Zealand national team fixtures in the June international window.

"If the surgeon had gone in and looked at his knee in January he'd probably have done the same operation," Kean said on the club's website.

"So with good medical backup we've managed to get him on the pitch more times than we thought we would.

"The prognosis is that he'll be back some time in August, he just has to rest up for a month and do the rehab from there."

Nelsen simply described the injury as niggly and nothing worse.

"I've had this since January so I kind of new (surgery) was on the cards," he told Radio Live today.

"I just wanted to get as much out of it as I could and go as long as possible until it got too much. It was getting to the stage where it was blowing up all the time.

"It's nothing major, it was just niggling and getting worse and worse and it just needs to be cleaned up.

"I've got to get the rehab done and have a bit of a break, and get ready for next season."

Blackburn, who are just three points above the relegation zone in 15th place, play at Everton on Sunday (NZT).

- NZPA