Derby defender Tyrone Mears is closing in on a return from injury after personal embarrassment forced him to face surgery.Mears finally went under the knife two months ago for a stress fracture of his left shin that had troubled him for three years.

"I really wanted this to be my first full season and it was looking quite good at the start," Mears told the Derby Evening Telegraph.

"But the shin started to hurt and hurt, and from around Christmas time I was a spectator in games. I couldn't give anything, from pinging a ball to running.

"I remember it being particularly painful in the home game against Blackburn and in my last game, against Wigan in January, I thought 'I'm embarrassing myself' and it could end up snapping.

"I wasn't doing me or my team-mates any good and so I decided to stop playing."

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