Newcastle winger Damien Duff has returned to full training after almost seven months out following a serious foot injury. The 28-year-old last appeared for Newcastle at Portsmouth in April when he suffered what seemed to be a minor knock.

However, the injury was far more serious than first appeared - and it was feared his career could be under threat.

The Republic of Ireland international has had two operations but is now on course to return.

Newcastle boss Sam Allardyce told his club's official website: "It's great to see Damien back in training.

"He is just starting to join in with the players, and there will be a period of time when he gets used to training on a day-to-day basis.

"He'll have to get used to the physical contact first of all, and from there we'll take it into a reserve match.

"We hope we'll have him back to the sort of level we know he can play at as quickly as possible.

"We're looking forward to having him back in the first-team squad, because Damien is a player of undoubted class who can play a big part for us this season."

Duff has managed just 20 league appearances for the club since his €7 million transfer from Chelsea in July last year.

Duff's Newcastle team-mate, striker Michael Owen, has gone to Germany for treatment to on a thigh injury suffered in England's friendly win in Austria. He is expected to be out of action for a lengthy period.

Celtic playmaker Shunsuke Nakamura could be forced to miss next week's Champions League game against Shakhtar Donetsk after being instructed to rest.

The Japanese midfielder has been troubled by a knee ligament injury since playing in Celtic's qualifying round tie against Spartak Moscow in August.

He has featured in several games for Celtic since, but has not played in the club's last three matches.

The 29-year-old said: "I have been told by the doctors to rest as much as possible, as that will help me to recover completely from this injury."

Celtic are currently third in Group D after two wins and two defeats in their four matches. One of the defeats came against Shakhtar in Ukraine on September 18th, when the home side beat Gordon Strachan's side 2-0.

Portsmouth manager Harry Redknapp has admitted he would be interested in signing Liverpool and England striker Peter Crouch.

Crouch, whose future at Liverpool has been reported as uncertain, served under Redknapp during spells at Portsmouth and Southampton.

Rednapp said: "You will always be interested in someone like him. He is a great player and can be unplayable at times. He is a great lad and great to work with.

"He was fantastic in that year he had at Portsmouth. The club owe him a massive debt for what he did.

"We bought him for £1 million and sold him for £5 million. He scored 19 goals and without those goals they would probably have gone down."

Luton have confirmed that directors John Mitchell and Richard Bagehot have agreed to step down from the board after being charged by the English Football Association last week.

The pair were both charged by the FA with failing to report the breaches of regulations regarding payments to agents when they became aware of them.