Butland out for three months

Mark Hughes is confident Stoke have finally got to the bottom of Jack Butland’s ankle injury but says the goalkeeper faces another three months out.

The England international has not played competitively since fracturing his ankle against Germany in March and has suffered a number of setbacks in his recovery. He has now undergone a further operation meaning he is facing the prospect of going a year without playing.

Butland was set to play in Stoke’s Premier League opener at Middlesbrough but pulled out after aggravating the problem and underwent surgery in September only to withdraw again ahead of an U23s game earlier this month.

The 23-year-old went under the knife again last week and Hughes hopes his player can now put the injury behind him for good and begin to get his career back on track.

“He’s probably looking at two to three months. Hopefully we’ll get him back before the end of the season,” said Hughes. “The story on the injury was that there were issues in the ankle in terms …

continue reading in source www.skysports.com