TIM Flowers underwent surgery to repair groin damage last night and is definitely out of the start of Blackburn Rovers' Premiership campaign.

Flowers had played without any apparent problems against Gothenburg, Norrkoping and Dundee United in Sweden. But, as we exclusively revealed, he was forced to return home before the final game of Rovers' pre-season tour - in Denmark - after complaining of the injury.

Flowers was sent to see a specialist and the repairs were duly carried out, meaning that manager Roy Hodgson's fears that the England keeper might be sidelined when the team kicks off against Derby County on August 9 have now been confirmed.

It's impossible to say at this stage how long it will take Flowers to get back to peak fitness. But most players seem to recover reasonably quickly from this type of operation which is fairly routine these days.

Colin Hendry has just had further surgery on an ankle problem, had a groin operation at the end of last season and was able to play in the club's opening pre-season friendly. It will also help that there are early breaks in the Premiership fixture programme because of World Cup qualifying dates.

Rovers will now be glad they managed to sign an experienced back-up keeper in John Filan from Coventry.

The Australian international stepped in for Flowers against Hvidovre last Saturday and has played a number of Premiership matches during his time with Coventry.

A fee has yet to be sorted out for Filan. That will be decided by a tribunal, as will the fee for Shay Given.

Rovers are still awaiting dates for the hearings.

Meanwhile, Paul Warhurst could be set to make his debut for newly-promoted Crystal Palace in a friendly against Millwall on Saturday.

The utility player's £1.25 million transfer from Ewood to Selhurst seems to be progressing smoothly with no evident disagreements over personal terms.

And, providing the medical results are clear, Palace boss Steve Coppell said he didn't envisage any problems.

There had been suggestions that Warhurst might be reluctant to make the move to London because of family reasons.

But he seems to have accepted that he will not figure in the first team picture at Ewood and needs to relaunch his career.

At least he will be able to do it in the Premiership, after interest in him from several First Division sides.

Coppell, who was having lunch with the player today, said: "They have made a bold decision to come South and he will be a very useful player to us because he has a lot of Premiership experience."

Italian defender Alessandro Pistone has agreed to join Newcastle for £4.5million from Inter Milan.

Officials of the Italian club said that Pistone - believed to have interested his former boss Roy Hodgson at one stage - had signed a four-year contract, worth £600,000 a year to the 22-year-old.

"Pistone is going to double his yearly salary with Newcastle. We could not match the bid," said Massimo Moratti, the oil industrialist who is Inter's president.

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