Butland injury was missed, says Hughes

Stoke boss Mark Hughes says Jack Butland is likely to be sidelined for another three months with a stress fracture of his ankle.

Goalkeeper Butland fractured his ankle on international duty with England in March, but broke down in pre-season training following surgery, and Hughes says a minor stress fracture went undiagnosed because the club's doctors could not see it on the scan.

"The view was that there was a stress fracture there as well as the fracture and that was the thing that was difficult to pick up," the Potters' boss told the Stoke Sentinel.

"The fracture where the bone came away was clearly fixed, but there was an underlying stress fracture that wasn't showing up on scans, unfortunately, and that explains the pain he was feeling.

"Sometimes scans don't show what they need to show because it's right within the capsule of the ankle, so we were unfortunate in terms of where it was."

Hughes says the 23-year-old will probably return to training in March, and set the England goalkeeper the target of making the first team before the end of the season.

"He could get back before the end of the season. That's the hope, touch wood. He shouldn't get any complications," Hughes continued.

"It's going to be long term and it's a year out of his career. You can only console him a bit by saying he's got his whole career in front of him."

Hughes says the long lay-off has had a psychological affect on Butland, who was the youngest goalkeeper to be capped by England when he made his debut as a 19-year-old in 2012 against Italy.

"It's a setback because he was playing exceptionally well and that's probably what is difficult for Jack to comprehend or deal with because at the point of the injury he was playing for England and doing exceptionally well for us," Hughes continued.

"He shouldn't get any complications now and everyone is comfortable any issues he had have been resolved, picked up and sorted out. Now it's just a case of allowing the bones to heal and getting him back."

Stoke will attempt to complete a permanent deal for Derby goalkeeper Lee Grant in January, although the Championship side are holding out for a £4.5m fee despite the 33-year-old being out of contract at the end of the season.

"We are hopeful because clearly ourselves and Lee want to but my understanding was the price is a little bit too high and we couldn't get as close as we needed to," Hughes said.

"'From Lee's point of view it couldn't have gone any better. He came here with no promises but since he's come into the team it's settled us down and helped us stop shipping goals."

In other Stoke news, Hughes has named former Barcelona midfielder Ibrahim Afellay in the squad for Tuesday's Premier League visit to Liverpool after he proved his fitness following an eight month lay-off after he suffered cruciate knee ligament injury in April.

"I am delighted he has come back as strongly as he has because he suffered a really bad injury," he said.

"He looks like the old Afellay, which is tremendous because usually when players come back they are a little apprehensive. I have no qualms of including him now."

Photo (Getty Images/ Mike Hewitt)

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