Izzet injury worries Bruce

Birmingham manager Steve Bruce has admitted that midfielder Muzzy Izzet’s knee problem is giving him “cause for concern”.

Izzet has started only two games since initially suffering the injury during the home game with Newcastle on October 3.

It was initially felt that rest and injections would provide a cure and Izzet, a Bosman signing from Leicester last summer, made a comeback in the shock 1-0 win at Liverpool on November 6.

But he has not played since being red carded against Everton in the following game and underwent a cartilage operation.

Now Bruce is worried that Izzet’s recovery period is taking longer than anticipated and hopes of the Turkish international returning to training this week have been shelved.

Bruce said: “This is proving a slower job than we thought and obviously there is a bit of a concern.

“The knee was sore again at the end of last week which was 22-23 days since Muzzy had the operation. When you have a cartilage operation, you hope a player will be fit in 21-28 days.

“This was a flush-out that we hoped would have got rid of the floating matter in his knee but things are slower than we thought.

“We would have expected him to be joining in training, certainly at the start of this week, but I’ve been told my medical people that he can’t do so and it’s a bit of a worry.”

On a more positive note, another midfielder, David Dunn, is expected to resume training this week after undergoing more injections to cure a back and hamstring related problem.

Dunn has had a series of similar setbacks in the last 12 months and broke down again against Middlesbrough on St Stephen's Day.

Bruce said: “We expect Dunny to be starting again this week. He’s had the injections again into his back and we are hoping he will be available in two or three weeks again.”