Melbourne Heart youngster Adrian Zahra has undergone an operation on his damaged knee.

The 20-year old speedy midfielder was cut down by a vicious Kevin Muscat tackle in Saturday night's derby with the Victory and it was initially feared that he may be out for a very long time.

But the injury is not as bad as first thought and after having surgery at Epworth Hospital last night, is expected to make a full recovery.

"Whilst we initially hoped Adrian could avoid surgery, upon further surgical assessment, a decision was made to perform knee surgery on the ligaments in his right knee," said football operations manager John Didulica.

"The initial assessment is that the surgery was a success and Adrian should be able to undertake a modified pre-season with a view to being available for the early rounds of the 2011/12 Hyundai A-League season.

"Adrian is contacted to the Club for two seasons, so we won't be rushing his return. We have full confidence that our high performance team will ensure this is just a minor hurdle for Adrian as he goes on to bigger and better things in the coming years."

Zahra was making a big impression in the A-League after finding his feet with the Heart who picked him up from Victorian Premier League club Melbourne Knights. He appeared 19 times for the fledgling club in their debut season in Australia's top flight prior to the season-ending injury.