Izzet confident of return soon

Muzzy Izzet is optimistic that his injury nightmare is coming to an end and the Birmingham midfielder has his sights on a return to action before the end of the season.

Izzet was one of seven players brought in by Blues boss Steve Bruce last summer when he ended an eight year spell with Leicester.

But the Turkish international has suffered a series of setbacks since the knee problem first flared up against Newcastle at St Andrews in early October.

Izzet returned to action the following month only to break down after two games and surgery did not resolve the issue.

But a recent scan finally appears to have established the cause of the problem and now Izzet is now back jogging with a view to starting full training sooner rather than later.

He said: “When you move to a new club the last thing you want to pick up is a long term injury and this season has been an absolute nightmare.

“If you look at my record at Leicester I hardly missed a game. I have been used to playing 40-odd games a season and I’ve never had surgery before.

“I would start to think things were finally on the right track and then I’d have another setback but it looks as if we have got to the bottom of things which is a big relief.

“I am back doing jogging again now and I hope it won’t be too long before I am back playing and can show the Blues fans what I’m capable of.”

Bruce said: “Muzzy has been one of several big players we’ve been missing for most of the season like Stan Lazaridis and David Dunn.

“The injury has been slow to heal and I thought he would have been back by now after having the operation nine or ten weeks ago but there is a bit of light at the end of the tunnel.”