Dunne turns down USA trip

Richard Dunne: Aston Villa defender has stayed in England to continue his recovery from a shoulder injury

Aston Villa lynchpin Richard Dunne has rejected the chance to go to America in the hope of speeding up his recovery from a broken collarbone.

The Villa defender was poised to head stateside for a week of rehabilitation work with the Cleveland Browns.

Randy Lerner, Villa's owner, also owns that NFL franchise who specialise in recovery from these types of injuries due to the physical nature of that sport.

Progress

However, it has now been decided that, with his recovery going well at Villa, Dunne should remain in England to continue with his programme.

Villa boss Alex McLeish told the Birmingham Mail: "He didn't go (to America) because he's got a lot of football rehab to do and he would not get it out there.

"We decided against it because he's making quite good progress.

"I think he's kind of on schedule for the repair of the break, so we have to adhere to that.

"We can't rush him back but he's training well. He's not training with the team at the moment, he's training on his own, but he feels good.

"He's doing some running and strength work, strengthening of the shoulder area with light weights and things like that."