Ben Godfrey has delivered a crucial injury boost for Norwich City, confirming he will be fine to face Manchester United this Sunday.
The centre-back was forced off five minutes into the second half during City's 0-0 Premier League draw at Bournemouth on Saturday, as pain from recent hernia surgery caused him discomfort.
With no other fit central defenders available that required Alex Tettey to drop into defence alongside Ibrahim Amadou, with both players defensive midfielders primarily.
"It's looking good, I played 11 days post-op so 90 minutes was going to be tough anyway," Godfrey said, speaking at a half-term signing session, meeting supporters at the Canaries' fan hub at Jarrold Intersport, in Norwich city centre.
"It just got a little bit sore in the second half, it had stiffened up at half-time when you cooled off.
"So it's fine, nothing major, nothing to worry about, it's just general soreness from how soon it was after the surgery, but it's all good and I'll be fit and available for this weekend."
With centre-backs Grant Hanley and Christoph Zimmermann not expected to return from injury until December and Timm Klose expected to miss most of the season, Godfrey's fitness was a key concern for head coach Daniel Farke.
The 21-year-old had been playing through the pain until the international break, until he could have hernia surgery carried out by a specialist in Germany, forcing him to miss England Under-21 duty.
He continued: "It's not great, you tend to feel a bit heavy, sluggish, you lose you power sort of, or any motion which does require power like striking a ball, sprinting, things like that - and you're in a world of pain.
"So obviously that's what you need to do in every game, so it can affect you massively, but to be fair the medical staff looked after me as well as they could during that period of four games where I had to play with it.
"I got through it, it was a tough time and painful, but I had to play."
MORE: Tettey so pleased to help Canaries get back on track with clean sheet
It was the first time that Godfrey hadn't completed the full match for City since last December, when he played all of a 3-2 home win over Bolton in the Championship - a run stretching back 35 matches prior to the Bournemouth game.
"I don't like coming off!" Godfrey added. "To be fair, I read a stat saying that was the first 90 minutes I hadn't played since I had come in. I like to keep those sorts of stats up! So I was a bit gutted about that.
"It was a bit sad coming off but it's just nice to hear that I'm not damaged and I'm ready for this weekend."
- Godfrey and Cantwell were signing autographs and posing for photos with fans, where a swap shop for the Official Norwich City Sticker Book was also being held.
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