Germany international Marco Reus is determined to return to form and fitness for next year s World Cup after undergoing cruciate knee ligament surgery.
The Borussia Dortmund forward suffered the injury in their DFB-Pokal final victory over Eintracht Frankfurt, having already seen his 2016-17 campaign disrupted by injury.
Reus also missed the 2014 World Cup due to an ankle problem, pulling out of the squad before his side went on to become world champions.
But, after going under the knife, the 28-year-old is on the comeback trail and is fully focusing on recovering in time to aid both Dortmund and Germany in the coming campaign.
The surgery went fine and I m already on the road to recovery, Reus wrote in a post on his Facebook and Instagram pages.
Port Vale s Tom Pope had the FA Cup impact he promised before holders Manchester City ran out 4-1 winners at the Etihad Stadium.
Pope, whose disparaging Twitter post about City defender John Stones came to light following the third-round draw, nodded in a superb 35th-minute equaliser after Oleksandr Zinchenko s deflected opener.
However, Sergio Aguero ensured the hosts went in ahead at half-time before youngsters Taylor Harwood-Bellis – inadvertently scoring his first senior goal after Stones thought he had City s third – and Phil Foden sealed the Premier League champions progress.
Nathan Smith scrambled an eighth-minute effort from Foden out of the goalmouth but fellow Vale centre-back Leon Legge was not so effective with his own last-ditch attempt – tur…
La Liga giants Sevilla are thought to be keen on Fenerbahce defender Simon Kjaer.
The Rojiblancos are looking for a direct replacement for Adil Rami who moved to Marseille this season and are believed to have identified the Denmark international as their top-choice summer target.
Kjaer moved to Turkey in 2015 in a €7.5 transfer from French side Lille and has emerged as one of the leading figures for Turkish champions over the past two seasons.
Fenerbahce have already rebuffed an offer worth €8 million from AC Milan earlier this summer and have now informed Sevilla they will have to splash out offers in excess of €10 million and higher if they want to sign the Danish defender.
The Turkish giants are holding out for a significant fee that would help …