Werder lose Arnautovic, sell Wesley

Werder Bremen forward Marco Arnautovic could miss the rest of the season after tearing knee ligaments in an accident today. The Austria international, who has scored nine goals this season, twisted his knee after getting his foot caught in the ground while playing with his dog, according to the Bundesliga club. Arnautovic has been ruled out for at least six weeks by Bremen's club doctor Gotz Dimanski, leaving him only a few weeks of the season to recover full fitness, if his injury heals according to plan. "We will try all we can to get him fit and healthy again as quickly as possible," said Dr Dimanski. "But he will be out for at least six weeks." The news comes as a blow to Bremen, who have won only one of their last eight games and have failed to score in their last two matches, both 1-0 defeats. "Marco has informed us of the news and of course it is frustrating because we lose an important option for the coming weeks," said Bremen coach Thomas Schaaf. Werder Bremen have announced the sale of midfielder Wesley to Brazilian club Palmeiras with immediate effect. The Brazilian has failed to claim a regular berth in the Bundesliga club's starting XI, making just 26 appearances since arriving from Santos in 2010. He has recently been keeping himself fit with Palmeiras after becoming surplus to requirements in Bremen, who have now reached a formal agreement with the Brazilian club for the player to make a permanent transfer back to his home country. "After reaching an agreement with Palmeiras a while ago, the bank guarantees which were necessary to assure the transfer have now arrived," said Bremen's director of sport Klaus Allofs. "Even if the whole procedure has dragged on a little, we were always confident that it would go through since we remained in close contact with the Palmeiras management and all agreements and dates were adhered to." Wesley scored only two goals during a troubled time in Germany.