Marco Rose has confirmed that Alex Scott’s injury is not as serious as first feared and that he could make his Bournemouth return sooner than anticipated.

Scott suffered a thigh injury whilst on international duty with England and had looked like being out for up to eight weeks.

However, following assessments that timescale has been reduced and Rose is hopeful of having him available again soon.

“We did an MRI and the pictures looked really well,” said Rose. “His progression, his healing, is in a good way. Better than we expected.

“It means not that he is ready for Sunderland or next week but we can progress his rehab training, we can bring him back on the pitch to see how he responds.

“We are not talking about six to eight weeks anymore. We are quite confident that we get him back maybe a little bit earlier.”

Scott made his first England start in the 7-0 win over Croatia in Rijeka during the international break, with the club having since placed a £100m price tag on the midfielder should he be sold in January.

“It depends how he responds on the load he gets,” said Rose of his recovery. “We still have to take care, there is still an injury. But it looks much, much better.”