JEFF Hendrick is determined to help his best mate Robbie Brady through his long road to recovery after the winger had surgery on a knee injury this week.

Brady ruptured the patellar tendon in his left knee last weekend and is set to be out of the rest of the season after going under the knife on Wednesday.

For Hendrick the loss of Brady is a blow on and off the pitch, with the two close friends having grown up together in Ireland and they played for the same youth team in Dublin.

But the midfielder will be aiming keep Brady’s spirits high as he begins the road back to fitness, with the two living on the same road, and he has already been round for a cup of tea.

And Hendrick, who knows Brady better than anyone in the Clarets squad, has backed his character to shine through as he contemplates a long spell on the sidelines.

“He knows he’s going to be in the gym a lot and he knows he’s going to have stuff to work on to build his leg and knee. He will focus on that,” Hendrick said.

“He’s got his family around him and his friends will be there for him. I think he knows he’s got to crack on and get fit again.

“The start was getting the surgery and then getting back walking first. But then once he’s doing that, and you start to see those little bits of progress, that will spur him on and keep him going.”

Hendrick and Brady sit next to each other in the dressing room and the former admits he’ll miss the latter around the Barnfield Training Centre, while Burnley will also miss him on the pitch with the winger hitting top form in recent weeks.

“He’s got a lot of one-line jokes, he’s got good stories, he sits beside me, we have a laugh, so he’s definitely going to be a miss,” he said.

“But we’ve got to focus on the game we’ve got (Watford). It is sad news but we’ll still have him around and he lives beside me so I can get him to tell me a few jokes back home. We’ve just got to get on with it now.

“You could see the confidence in his game, the team was playing a lot of football, and he was getting into pockets, getting on the ball, creating chances, and the goal he scored against Bournemouth topped it off. So it is unfortunate timing but it’s done now and he’s got to get his head around it and move forward.”

Hendrick has already been to see Brady post-operation and he will be doing his best to keep him on track over the next few months.

“I could see the pain in his face when he went down and it wasn’t a nice feeling. He knew himself,” he said.

“But I’ve been around to see him, had a cup of tea with him, and just chatted, and just to be there for him. I’ve been speaking to him a lot the last few days and he knows all the lads are there for him. Everyone gets on so he knows we will be there to help him out.

“I hope it does help (the Irish contingent at the club). It can be tough and at times you can feel out of the loop a little bit. You don’t see it coming, but sometimes you can get frustrated. So it is good for him to have us around.

“There’s a few of us who live close by so we will make sure we drop him and see him, and spend some time with him, and hopefully that will make his injury period go by a bit quicker.”