Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger has defended the loan signing of Kim Kallstrom, despite his back injury.Spartak Moscow will foot the bill for his wages for the first six weeks, but Arsenal don't need another crock around the place with 14 games left of the Barclays Premier League.
"It crossed my mind not to sign him on Friday night and if we had two or three days more then maybe we wouldn't have done it," admitted Wenger.
"At some stage during the season we have had all our central midfielders - Flamini, Wilshere, Arteta, Ramsey, Chamberlain and Cazorla - missing.
"It crossed my mind to do the deal on Wednesday after Ramsey had surgery. It was a free loan, we were offered him on Wednesday and we decided to do it."
The best case scenario is for Kallstrom to return at the beginning of March and be involved around the time they travel to the Britannia Stadium to play Stoke in the Premier League.
For the time being he will be under the supervision of Arsenal physio Colin Lewin until he can join first-team training with the rest of the players.
"Let us establish the truth," added Wenger. "He felt his back two days before the medical. We discovered a micro-fracture and we have all played with them.
"It is on his vertebrae, so the best case scenario is for him to play at the end of February, not before."
