Doyle ruptures Achilles tendon as Mackail-Smith undergoes surgery

The news is another huge blow for the 29-year-old who hasn’t featured for Hatters under boss Nathan Jones, restricted to just 14 appearances last term due to a succession of injuries, his final appearance on December 6 at Peterborough United.

Speaking about the incident, Jones said: “Unfortunately we’ve had a serious injury with Nathan rupturing his Achilles tendon.

“It was an innocuous one in the first session on Monday. No-one was near him, we were just playing a bit of keep-ball after the boys had done the Yo-Yo test, and he went down.

“He’s been operated on and all our thoughts are with Nathan. We’ll support him in his recovery and he can take heart from the fact that a couple of the players already here, Magnus Okuonghae and Craig Mackail-Smith, have had the same injury and they came back.

“He knows there’ll be a lot of hard work ahead of him, but with the right attitude and support he’ll get from the staff here, he’ll be back – but it’ll be a long road ahead.”

Meanwhile, striker Craig Mackail-Smith has undergone surgery, having a pin inserted in the tibia he fractured at Plymouth in March.

Although he won’t play a part in pre-season, Jones hopes he might be back around mid-September, adding: “Craig is still recovering from his fracture at the end of last season, and it hasn’t healed as well as we’d have liked, so he’s had it pinned – which we’re told is the best way of getting him fit and strong again.

“He’ll be in plaster for two weeks, a protective boot for four weeks after that, and then it’s a case of getting him up to speed, so probably another six weeks from then depending on muscle wastage in his calf.”