Duff's last injury-free season was five years ago

Cheltenham Town physio Ian Weston has revealed the surgeon who operated on Shane Duff's Achilles only treated it after assurances from the player.

Professor Nicola Maffulli told the 27-year-old defender his recovery must take six months to be successful.

Weston told BBC Gloucestershire: "He looked at Shane and said 'if you want to rush and come back in three months, I'll refuse to do the surgery'."

And he confirmed Cheltenham tried all other options before the operation.

The Cheltenham physio said Maffulli is rated as the top surgeon in Europe, with the operation Duff underwent having an 85-90% success rate providing there is a longer rehabilitation process.

Weston added: "He said you may get different advice that this kind of surgery only needs three months rehabilitation.

"But he said that there was a certain amount of risk of it failing."

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