O'Neill expects Bouma back next season

Bouma dislocated his ankle during the Intertoto Cup clash with Odense BK in July and was sidelined for eight months.He looked on course to play during the current campaign after notching up three 90-minute appearances for the reserves.But some floating bone in his ankle meant the Dutch international required further surgery.O'Neill said: "Freddy will miss the rest of the season. It's been a wretched time for him. He has gone to see the specialist who helped him with the injury originally."He has gone in for some keyhole surgery to remove some of the particles that have been floating around."Whether they've been there for a week or a few months, we're not sure. But it's causing him discomfort."The long and short of it is that he'll be out for the rest of the season. But he should, with a bit of luck, come roaring back during pre-season."Meanwhile striker and 13-goal joint top scorer Gabriel Agbonlahor and midfielder Nigel Reo-Coker look set to be fit for Monday's Premier League clash with Hull at Villa Park.Agbonlahor and Reo-Coker both missed the 1-1 draw at Bolton last weekend with hamstring and knee injuries respectively.O'Neill is confident the pair will be fit for the Bank Holiday clash.He said: "Nigel and Gabby should be fine. Gabby has trained - although he did train last week to be fair and still missed the Bolton game."It was a precaution that he didn't play at the weekend because he just felt the hamstring. But I think he will be fine for Hull."Nigel has come in this week and has gradually done some work. He is feeling much, much better which is good news. He should be fine too."O'Neill is also hoping right-back Luke Young will be available after a foot problem forced him to miss the trip to the Reebok Stadium.The former Celtic boss said: "Luke has been sore for quite a number of weeks - playing with pain-killing injections."In the game against West Ham 10 or 11 days ago, he felt the injection wore off rather quickly although he played through it."I thought the best thing to do was to give him a rest. He's been able to do that and we'll look at him again towards the end of the week.""He definitely feels better and is seeing the benefits of missing the game against Bolton."But we'll see. It might be a problem that stays with him until the end of the season."

Source: Team_Talk