Bardsley undergoes ankle operation

Defender Phil Bardsley has today gone under the knife for an ankle problem which has ruled him out of pre-season action.

The Scottish international will now miss a number of weeks of Premier League action as he recovers from surgery, the club have confirmed.

However, better news came in the form of Stephane Sessegnon, who trained at the club's Academy of Light today following a niggle-plagued pre-season.

Finally, defender Wes Brown and midfielder David Vaughan are both 'progressing' but are still not ready to make their firs-team returns after missing a chunk of the pre-season schedule.

Speaking to safc.com, O'Neill confirmed the news:

'Phil Bardsley has had an operation. That's a real blow for us.'

The gaffer continued:

'Stephane has done a little bit of training this morning, and hasn't felt any effects.

'Wes Brown is feeling a bit better but obviously getting a bit annoyed that injuries have plagued him.

'David Vaughan is making progress and he had an operation on his side to cure a problem and he's making good progress out there on the training field, but hasn't joined in with us yet.'

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