Roberto Martinez: 'Lacina Traore to stay at Everton'

Everton boss Roberto Martinez has confirmed that on-loan striker Lacina Traore will stay at the club for the rest of the season after tests revealed that he does not need surgery on a hamstring injury.

The 23-year-old Ivorian joined the Toffees from Monaco during the January transfer window, but he was expected to miss the remainder of the campaign after suffering a hamstring problem at the end of last month.

Martinez claimed at the time that Traore would return to his parent club if he needed an operation to fix the problem.

However, the Spaniard now announced that Traore will be available for the team's final few games of the season.

"We've seen the specialists and it's not going to be surgery, which is fantastic news," Martinez told reporters.

"We're expecting between six and eight weeks to be the period he needs to be recovering, but we're all very positive.

"It's fantastic news that he doesn't need surgery, as that means he's going to be available for the end of the season."

Everton return to Premier League action on Saturday when they make the trip to Newcastle United.