Horse placenta massage is talk of the Premier League

Robin van Persie underwent treatment yesterday in Belgrade at the hands of alternative therapist Mariana Kovacevic as it emerged that two more Premier League players were planning to see the Serbian housewife.

Van Persie, the Arsenal striker who was injured at the weekend playing in an international friendly for Holland against Italy, smiled at reporters and photographers after leaving the clinic where it is reported that Mrs Kovacevic had massaged horses' placental fluid onto his afflicted ankle.

The initial diagnosis from the Dutch national team's doctors was that the ligament damage, sustained during a heavy tackle by Italian defender Giorgio Chiellini, could rule the player out of action for the rest of the year. That would be a massive blow to his club manager Arsene Wenger, whose Gunners are riding high in second place in the Premier League. But van Persie was tipped off by an international teammate about Kovacevic, and booked into the clinic, where he spent all of yesterday afternoon.

The exact benefits of the treatment remain questionable. Animal placentas have been used in anti-ageing creams and other cosmetics, and in Peru dried placenta is given to children to keep them healthy, but the particular treatment of massaging it into the skin has no obvious effect. Abbie Turner of the Bristol University sports clinic told the BBC: "I have never heard of this [treatment] - and I won't be rushing out to use it on my patients."

Other players to have received the controversial treatment include Pablo Zabaleta, Vincent Kompany and Nigel de Jong of Manchester City, whose club was so impressed by the results that they asked the therapist to join their staff, an offer she turned down. Liverpool players Albert Riera and Yossi Benayoun have also been to see her, with defenders Glen Johnson and Fabio Aurelio reported today to have either undergone or be planning to have the massage.

And with club boss Rafa Benitez noting yesterday that his hamstrung midfielders Riera and Benayoun were recovering ahead of schedule the miracle cure's popularity will only increase.