Everton manager Walter Smith has maintained Paul Gascoigne is ready to return to action, despite increasing speculation that the former England star is about to retire.
"There is always a lot of speculation which surrounds Paul, but that is wide of the mark," he said.
Smith, who managed Gazza at Rangers before taking him to Goodison, also dismissed reports that the 34-year-old midfielder missed Saturday's friendly against Tranmere because of personal problems.
"After playing for the last 10 minutes of the game at Preston the previous Saturday, he came back and most of the week," he said.
"Unfortunately he had a thigh strain which meant he missed out on the game at Tranmere on Saturday.
"He is now back into training and hopefully there will be no recurrence of that injury. He has had a tough summer period and he is now coming out of that at the present time.
"Hopefully he can stay injury free and get back on track sharply."
According to the BBC, Gascoigne, who has 12 months left on his contract at Goodison Park, spent part of the summer at a rehabilitation clinic in Arizona.