Jon Walters allays injury fears after surgery

The Jon Walters injury scare story morphed from ‘crisis’ to ‘what crisis?’ in the space of a few hours yesterday, after Ireland’s player of 2015 moved quickly to allay fears a knee problem could threaten his availability for the Euros.

Having missed out on the games against Switzerland and Slovakia due to a cartilage problem, the Stoke City man underwent surgery on Wednesday and, following reports he might struggle to make the finals in June, went public to declare: “I’ve had a similar one done before and was back playing in less than three weeks so I’ll be grand.”

This time, the target for his return to duty is estimated at four to six weeks which, all going well, could still see him returning to action before the end of the club season and in good time for France 2016.