Allan has groin surgery

Allan was substituted before half-time in a 4-1 defeat by Rangers at Ibrox last month. It was suspected the move was tactical, though manager Neil Mccann later insisted the player was struggling with a recurring injury.

A Dundee spokesman has confirmed the operation was a means of solving the problem, but couldn’t yet give an accurate estimate for how long the player will be out for. Wales have moved to put the record straight on Gareth Bale’s calf muscle injury ahead of their crunch World Cup qualifier in Georgia this evening.

Bale was ruled out of the final qualifiers against Georgia and the Republic of Ireland and Wales feared he could be out for several weeks after sending him for a scan. But his club Real Madrid said he had been diagnosed with “swelling but no tear” and could be back playing in two weeks.

Wales are keen to play down talk of a club versus country row and boss Chris Coleman said: “Unfortunately there’s a bit of damage in his calf which could keep him out a week, two weeks, three weeks, we don’t know. We have to wait and see how long – that news will come from Real Madrid.”