Ken Steggles has provided an update on Alex Russell's situation following the player's thigh injury last Saturday and the MRI scan on Monday.

"As you know we thought it could have been the same problem as he had before, as it was the same left thigh," Steggles explained. However the MRI scan was particularly useful this time as they were able to scan the affected area soon after the problem emerged, which picked up a 'hot spot' and identified the exact nature of the injury.

"He had split the covering of the muscle, which is a thin skin like a sausage skin," Ken continued, "and the fibres of the muscle had pushed through. As you can imagine that's very painful and explains why he pulled up so fast. The operation on Wednesday was to poke the muscle back inside and stitch up that covering which is not one of the strongest areas to be repaired so it has to be allowed to take care of itself."

Consequently Russell has been sent home to his parents for about a week to do nothing but rest the injury and in Steggles' words to "get him out of the enviroment", to avoid the temptation of trying to do anything more. He will return to the club to do some very light work the following week before seeing the surgeon on March 1st.

"Alex is very relieved that the problem has been sorted out and he's feeling good, as good as I've seen him because - despite it having happened again - this time we could tell what it was because of the scan. It's looking really good," concluded United's physio.