Aberdeen boss Mark McGhee is confident Zander Diamond will have fully recovered from his ankle injury by Christmas. The 24 year old centre-back underwent surgery on Friday to pin together two bones in his lower leg after being sidelined by a bruised foot all season.

McGhee told RedTV: "We now seem to have had a definitive diagnosis, where the ligament between the two main bones in his leg near the ankle seem to be separating in a way they shouldn't and require fixing.

"People might ask 'how does it take this amount of time to get to this point?'

"We ask the same question but these things are like that, you almost have to weed it out. It wasn't simple, it took several scans and several opinions.

"We feel as if we have now got to the bottom of it and we look forward to seeing Zander back before Christmas."

McGhee said: "The intervention will involve putting something in place that will secure those bones.

"It's a proven procedure, it's not all that common, but it's proven."