Robbie Brady to miss rest of Ireland's World Cup qualifiers after undergoing surgery

“Robbie's going to be out for a while," began Preston manager Paul Heckingbottom.

HUGE BLOW: Preston North End manager Paul Heckingbottom has confirmed Robbie Brady will miss a number of months after undergoing surgery on his calf. Pic: Stephen McCarthy/Sportsfile.

Preston North End manager Paul Heckingbottom has confirmed Robbie Brady will miss a number of months after undergoing surgery on his calf.

The Republic of Ireland international picked up the injury in a behind-closed-doors pre-season friendly and is yet to feature this season.

He also missed Ireland's double header at home to Hungary and away to Armenia and speaking on Friday, his club boss admitted the 33-year-old will now miss the rest of the Boys in Green's World Cup qualifiers.

“Robbie's going to be out for a while," began Heckingbottom.

"I spoke to Robbie last week about it. The calf injury that he suffered, we knew it was a bad one, but we've been speaking to some surgeons and getting medical advice, the decision was to go and have an operation to help limit the chance of it reoccurring.

“It means that the rehab's going to take longer. He's had the operation and he's on the mend, but it's going to be months rather than weeks.

“We sort of kept that quiet because there was nothing until we knew which way we were going to go. I had a chat with Robbie last week.

"Obviously we were all really upset that it was going to take this length of time but everyone's comfortable with the decision and think that we've done the right thing and Robbie's on the mend now.”