William Gallas has been sent to a specialist after suffering another devastating injury setback.

Arsene Wenger has revealed that he is "80 per cent" certain to be without Gallas for the first leg Champions League tie with Barcelona and the Arsenal boss is not sure when the French defender will play again.

Gallas, 32, has now been sent to the same French rehabilitation specialist, the Centre European de Reeducation du Sportif near Biarritz which was used by Ashley Cole after he broke his ankle.

Gallas is recovering from a calf injury and Wenger admits that Arsenal have yet to reach agreement on a new contract after failing to thrash out a deal after the first meeting.

Wenger said: "He is in a rehabilitation centre in France. The progress is not as quick as I expected it to be. We need to be a little patient. He had two recurrences of the calf so we have to be more patient than before.

"But it will not affect the contract. We have had one meeting and will have another. It is a muscle problem. If it was a joint problem, his knees aging then I would say: 'hmmm.' But it is a minor muscle problem and we are confident."