Stoke City boss Mark Hughes has revealed that Republic of Ireland international Jonathan Walters is currently recovering from a knee operation.

The 33-year-old has missed Stoke's last three matches with a knee problem, but is expected to return to action in the middle of February after undergoing surgery to current the issue.

"He's had an operation to clear up an issue in the knee. I think we've got to be a little bit careful in the initial stages not to put too much load through him," the Stoke Sentinel quotes Hughes as saying.

"After the operation the knee hasn't swollen up or anything, so we are encouraged by that and there's no reason to think he will have any setbacks. Clearly at this early stage you never know and we've had operations that haven't quite worked out.

"But the early indications are that Jon will come back fitter and stronger. The initial prognosis was eight weeks, but given how the operation went and the reaction to it, we are probably looking at six to eight weeks (mid-February)."

Walters has scored twice in 17 Premier League appearances for the Potters this season.