The manager said:
“They needed to repair a bone underneath the eye and was trapping a muscle, affecting the eye’s ability to function properly. As far as I know he hasn’t had an operation within the eye itself, and all the experts can tell me is it’s a matter of time.
“Getting his eyesight back to what it should be is the all-important thing. The specialists don’t want him doing any physical training, even in the gymnasium. At the moment he’s focused on his eye returning to normal.
“It’s not a quick healing process; it could take still a long period of time. There’s no way he’s going to be rushed back into football until he’s 100% certain himself that his eyesight is fine, his eyesight is going to be perfect again, and he’s ready to play football.
“I remain glad I’m not sitting here talking about James Tomkins having been forced to retire from football because of a really bad eye injury that he picked up in training.
“All you can do is wait and rejoice in the improvement we seem to be seeing on a daily basis.”