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Dunne will travel to the US next week. Neal Simpson/EMPICS Sport
Stateside

Dunne turns to American football in recovery bid

The Villa defender will travel to the Cleveland Browns for treatment on his collarbone next week, the club have confirmed.

RICHARD DUNNE IS set to join up with NFL side the Cleveland Browns as he attempts to regain fitness before Euro 2012.

The Aston Villa defender has been sidelined with a broken collarbone since sustaining the injury in a fall against Manchester City last month and is desperate to be available before the end of the season so he can prove he is ready for June’s European Championships.

Villa owner Randy Lerner also controls the Browns, whose medical staff are experts in the field of upper-body injuries and Dunne has confirmed that he will be jetted to the States for treatment.

“I’ll be going to Cleveland in a week or so for about a week to see the Browns staff there,” Dunne said on the Villa website.

“They haven’t said exactly what they’ll be doing over there.

Because of the nature of American football, the Browns have a lot of experience in dealing with the kind of injury I suffered, so any help that I can get will be much appreciated.”

Dunne is one of the first names on Giovanni Trapattoni’s squad sheet and the Italian said last month that he is confident his centre-half will be okay to start in Ireland’s opening Group C game with Croatia on June 10 in Poznan.

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