ITALY and AC Milan forward Antonio Cassano will be out for a “few months” and needs heart surgery after falling ill at the weekend, the Italian champions said yesterday.

“The player will undergo a small surgical cardiological intervention in the coming days and the recovery time will be better defined after the surgery, but it will probably be a few months,” Milan said in a statement.

The problem caused insufficient blood flow to the brain, causing “ischemic cerebral damage” but no lasting brain damage has been detected.