Town boss Mick McCarthy says loanee Luke Varney has been offered the use of the Blues’ medical facilities while he recovers from the ruptured achilles he suffered in last Saturday’s 1-1 Championship play-off semi-final first leg draw with Norwich City. The 32-year-old, who McCarthy plans to talk to about a contract with Town once he's fit, was forced off after 31 minutes and now faces at least six months on the sidelines.
"He snapped his achilles, he was operated on in the week by James Calder up in London, who I can highly recommend because he did my ankle,” McCarthy said.
"It was a success, he’s done it, it’s fine. He’s now laid up and it’s going to be quite a while before he’s doing anything.
"It’s very sad and sad he can’t be with us on Saturday. Hopefully he can be with us at Wembley. Let’s hope that’s the case.”
Despite Varney having been on loan from Blackburn, who are contractually responsible for getting the striker back to fitness, McCarthy says Town owner Marcus Evans has given the OK for the former Leeds man to recuperate with the Blues.
"I’ve already spoken to Marcus, we’ve agreed to look after him and he can come and stay down here and we’ll make sure he’s fit,” he added.
"He’s got all our facilities and the medical care and attention we’d give to any one of our players. He won’t be our player but we’ve got to take care of him.
"We’ve already agreed that so hopefully he’ll take that offer up and then, when he is fit, we can discuss doing something with him, if that’s what he wants to do.
"Primarily it’s a thank-you to him for what he’s done and what he’s brought since he’s been here.
"He’s been great, he’s a super fella. I always thought he was my type of player when he played against us and he’s lived up to my expectations and I think the lads were really disappointed that he had such a nasty injury.”
As for the fitness of the rest of his squad ahead of Saturday’s play-off second leg, McCarthy says Luke Hyam is the only player who will miss out.
"Luke Hyam is training but he’s nowhere near fit enough to be involved,” he said. "But it’s great to see him back out on the training ground.
"His concentration’s got to be on getting fit and being ready to go at the start of next season now. He’s been training all week and you can see he’s getting fitter and stronger, which is nice to see.”
The Town boss says David McGoldrick, who was back on the bench on Saturday after his thigh problem, is keen to get involved again and is looking sharper.
"He was disappointed that he didn’t get a chance last week but it wasn’t the game for him," the Town boss continued. "We weren’t the dominant force looking to get a goal.
"Having had Reg [Varney] go off and we had Bish, who was struggling at the end of the game, I needed players at full tilt, not someone who might be knackered after 10 minutes.
"But he’s different, he’s had another week’s training and he’s looking really sharp. He’s ready to go.”