Sam Allardyce revealed Duff has had to recover from a career-threatening injury, and it will be a long time before we see him in action for Newcastle again.Troubled Times Ahead For Duff!
Sam Allardyce revealed Duff has had to recover from a career-threatening injury, and it will be a long time before we see him in action for Newcastle again.Duff has not featured for the Magpies since he badly damaged his ankle ligaments in the 2-0 defeat by Portsmouth back in April.
The injury required surgery at the end of last season, but few people realised the full extent of the problem.
Allardyce: "There are not many better wide players in the Premier League than Damien Duff and it's up to us to get him back to the level he was a couple of years ago.
"If he is playing to his full potential he would be an asset to any club in the Premier League. He was a wonderful player at Blackburn and Chelsea and he wants to show people what he is capable of at Newcastle.
"He had a frustrating time last season with injury, even before he broke his foot, and he wants to show people the real Damien Duff.
"He has been working extremely hard, but the injury he had was a career-threatening one. It was a really nasty injury. It has been a long and difficult recovery for him, but he is desperate to get back.
"We couldn't have asked any more from him in terms of the work he has put in during his rehabilitation. But, having worked so hard for so long to make sure he can play football again, we don't want to waste all that good work by rushing him into things too quickly.
"We hope that Damien will be able to join in with group training later this month, but in terms of him playing competitive football in the Premier League, we're going to have to be patient. It might not be until the end of the year."