‘Devastated’ Jack ruled out for Euros after surgery

STEVEN GERRARD is confident a “devastated” Ryan Jack will return to action in pre-season after being ruled out for the remainder of the campaign and the European Championships.

The midfielder will have surgery next week in an attempt to cure a long-standing issue that has kept him sidelined since the win over Dundee United in February. The loss of Jack is a huge blow to Scotland manager Steve Clarke as he prepares his squad for the Euros clashes with the Czech Republic, England and Croatia this summer.

And Gerrard knows the bombshell news will hit the 29-year-old hard after a season which saw him clinch the Premiership title was brought to a premature and frustrating end.

“Hopefully,” Gerrard said when asked if Jack will be available for preseason. “I think it is very difficult to predict what happens in the future.

“All I can do is speak about where we are sitting here right now today and we are at the bottom of the situation that we have been, as a medical team and a club, been putting a lot of effort in and a lot of time to try and find the right solution for Ryan. “He has been frustrated and down of late because he doesn’t like missing football matches. “He missed the title run in, which I know has frustrated him, and he has worked his socks off to put himself in a position to be in Scotland’s starting XI and he was really looking forward to the summer in terms of the Euros. “He will be devastated deep down, I know he will. He is a winner, he wants to play. “But now it is about putting the trust in the experts in this situation and they have found a situation that needs addressing.

“He needs a procedure to fix something that is very important. It wasn’t a case of trying to get through and battle through and put your body through anything to get yourself to a stage where this can happen in the future.

“This is a situation that needs addressing right now and we need to trust the experts in this situation.

“We will and next week sometime he will have an important procedure that will hopefully, once he has