The Welsh international striker flew to Colorado to see renowned American surgeon Dr Richard Steadman about his knee injury.

But while the prognosis was good, Steadman - who operated on Newcastle team-mate Alan Shearer - advised that Bellamy should play no more than one game a week.

That could put Robson on a collision course with Wales manager Mark Hughes, who has a European Championship qualifier against Azerbaijan on 20 November.

"I accept he's a vital player, Mark Hughes knows that as I do," Robson said.

"We'll have to come to that decision depending on the state of his knee, but we'll just see if we can work in conjunction with each other."

But Robson warned that Bellamy "might have to decide which side he wants to play for", making it clear that he expects the people who pay the striker's wages to come first.

Bellamy missed six months of last season after Steadman operated on his troublesome knee.

He suffered the injury in February 2002, returned to the side in September and has been slowly working his way back to full fitness.

But it was feared the 23-year-old had suffered a recurrence after Wales' win against Italy last month.

"He came out of that Wales match against Italy as the star and got a goal," Robson added.

"He was going round telling everybody he was fine, he'd never felt better, and three days later he's saying he's got a bad knee again.

"This obviously surprised us but we trusted his reaction to it - that's why we we've given him the best treatment in the world.

"The opinion is that we treat him gingerly but get him back, so we'll do that."

Robson said that he hadn't ruled Bellamy out of Newcastle's must-win Champions League clash away to Feyenoord on 13 November.

Should Robson give in to temptation and play Bellamy, he would then not figure the following weekend - if Newcastle follow the medical advice.

That could work to Wales' advantage, as Bellamy would have proved his fitness for international duty and had a week's rest before facing Azerbaijan.

Hughes is already on collision course with several Premiership managers over the release of players for the Euro 2004 qualifier.

Fifa's rules state that players must be released by their clubs four days before a qualifying match for an international competition.

Hughes is insisting that Ryan Giggs, John Hartson, Mark Pembridge, Andy Melville and Robbie Savage miss their club games on the Sunday before Wales' match on the Wednesday.