Roberto Di Matteo today revealed injured midfielder James Morrison is tearing his hair out at not knowing when he will be back in action.

Morrison is still nursing the heel injury he suffered at the end of last season with no end in sight to his lay-off.

And Di Matteo has revealed the former Middlesbrough man’s frustration at an injury that began as a blister but has already kept him sidelined for six months.

“His frame of mind is one of frustration,” said the Italian.“He’s been out for so long for that kind of injury.

“With a cruciate ligament injury you understand it’ll be seven or eight months out, but with James’s injury you don’t know whether it’ll be one week, two weeks, three weeks, two months or whatever. You cannot put a time scale on it.

“I’ve never seen this injury before but it’s a very complicated and a difficult part of his body.”

And Di Matteo has confirmed that Morrison, who is currently rehabilitating with his family on Teesside, has been unable to do any training to stay in shape.

“He went to see specialists and consultants and they told us it’s a difficult injury,” said the head coach. “He cannot cycle, he cannot run or train. He can’t even swim.

“He’s a professional footballer and knows that sooner or later – hopefully sooner – he will have to get back into training.”