Former Arsenal goalkeeper Dejan Iliev has confirmed he’ll be ruled out for the rest of the season with HJK, as he requires surgery.

Writing on Twitter this week, former Arsenal goalkeeper Dejan Iliev confirmed that he’s suffered an injury, and he’s set to miss the rest of HJK’s campaign.

“I am absolutely gutted to say that I have injured my elbow in our last game away from home,” Iliev said. “Unfortunately, I will have to undergo a surgery to repair the tendon and ligament damaged.

“This injury will make me miss all our games until the end of the season.”

HJK play in Finland, with the Veikkausliiga operating on a calendar-year basis, so a season-ending injury in August isn’t quite as bad as it might sound to those of us who follow the Premier League’s calendar.

The Finnish top tier should go on until the end of October, after including the Championship round and play-offs. So Iliev is facing at least the next three months out of action.

The 28-year-old had been a regular in the HJK team since May, making eight starts in their last 11 league games, so the timing of the setback is certainly frustrating.

Iliev has kept five clean sheets in his 10 games since joining HJK earlier this year.

After a long association with Arsenal, Iliev left the Gunners for Slovakian side AS Trencin in February 2022.

The 27-year-old goalkeeper had spent almost a decade in north London, including a number of loan spells around Europe, and it was time for him to make the next step in his career.

But having only signed a one-and-a-half-year deal with AS Trencin, it was always likely Iliev would be on the move again soon.

12 months later, HJK Helsinki confirmed the signing of Iliev on a one-year deal with an option to extend by a further year.