Barcelona defender Thomas Vermaelen is on track to return to action next month after being unable to make his debut for the club due to a hamstring tear that needed surgery . Vermaelen got injured at last year 's World Cup in Brazil , before he signed for Barca , prompting some to question why the club completed the deal to sign the 29-year-old from Arsenal . In a message on his Facebook page , Vermaelen said on Tuesday that he had recently started running again and urged Barcelona fans to be patient . Barcelona defender Thomas Vermaelen is on track to return to action next month after a hamstring tear . Vermaelen ( left ) jokes with Luis Suarez ( centre ) ad Sergio Busquets ( right ) during a presentation . 'Everything is going according to plan , therefore I am right on schedule to get back in the squad in April , ' he wrote . ' I am looking forward to contributing to Barca 's success this season . 'It 's a big step in my rehab starting running again . I am very happy to be outside again instead of staying inside in the gym all the time . It 's hard work but it 's worth it . ' Vermaelen said Barca had been fully aware of the extent of his injury , which had not initially been diagnosed in tests conducted at the World Cup . 'Barcelona did notice the seriousness of the injury when they did the medical and there were two options , ' he said . 'You could do surgery but they said it 's not necessary you can do it with preventative exercises , make it as strong as you can and then it should n't be a problem . 'We spoke to a lot of specialists and they all said it 's possible to do without surgery so for me it was an easy choice to go that way . 'It did n't work out . We tried for a couple of months and I could feel it was n't the same as before . 'So we went to get some advice from another specialist , a very famous one , and he said maybe it 's time to do surgery . I am just following the programme the surgeon told me to do and it 's going well . ' Ex-Arsenal defender Vermaelen got injured at last year 's 2014 World Cup in Brazil with Belgium . Vermaelen said on Tuesday via his Facebook page that he had recently started running again .
Barca is on track to return to action in April . Vermaelen has been out with a hamstring tear that required surgery . Barcelona defender wrote on Facebook that he 's started running again .