New Luton signing vows to work 'relentlessly' to recover after Grimsby boss confirms forward will be out for 'months' following shoulder operation

New Luton signing John McAtee has vowed to work ‘relentlessly’ to ensure he makes a full recovery from the shoulder injury that will see him spend ‘months’ on the sidelines according to Grimsby boss Paul Hurst.

The 23-year-old was snapped up by the Hatters last week and then immediately loaned back to Blundell Park, whom he starred for last term, scoring 16 goals as they won promotion to the Football League.

However, it was then revealed that the former Shrewsbury forward might require an operation on his shoulder after dislocating it during the League Two opener with Leyton Orient, an injury he had also suffered in the latter stages of the previous campaign.

McAtee has now since seen a specialist to determine the severity of the problem and speaking to BBC Radio Humberside, Hurst said: “He saw the specialist at the weekend and we had the news that we probably expected in truth, but didn’t really want, is that John's going to need that operation now.

"So he’ll be out for matter of months, so not the news that we wanted and certainly not the news that John wanted either.

"I know that he wanted to try and do everything possible to avoid that, but he’s going to have a length of time out and as a result we’ve got to cope without him.

"Once John is back and he is definitely going to be with us until the end of the season, so we look forward to welcoming him back.”

Tweeting about the news himself, McAtee added: “I will be working relentlessly to sort the problem and make sure I’m back bigger and better!”