Aston Villa manager Paul Lambert has revealed that Libor Kozak is still a long way from returning to action after suffering a setback in his recovery from injury.

Kozak suffered a broken leg in training at the start of the year and was expected to return in the first half of this season, but a second operation means that a date for his comeback has not yet been set.

"He had an operation on Wednesday," Lambert told reporters. "They had to go back into his leg and put a little pin in it.

"I haven't spoke to the doctor but it's going to be a while. It's a setback for him.

"He wasn't too far away from being back. He was running and doing everything. It's a blow for him and blow for us. It's just not healed the way we thought."

Kozak joined the club from Lazio last summer for a fee believed to be close to £6.5m.