While on loan at Leicester, the 27-year-old collapsed in the dressing-room during half-time in the Foxes' Carling Cup clash with Nottingham Forest in August.

The former West Ham player suffered two heart attacks and was only saved by emergency medical treatment at the City Ground.

But although the cause of his illness remains a mystery, Clarke is planning an imminent return.

He told the Daily Mail: 'I'm just hoping to get back into it and get on to the training pitch, hopefully in the next couple of weeks, certainly in the new year.

"It's been frustrating and I'm chomping at the bit to get back but the doctors have been trying to get to the bottom of it and although they know what happened, they still don't know what brought it on.

"It could be hereditary but they think that is unlikely as they have found nothing to suggest it is. It's been a drawn-out process but now I just want to move forward. What happened was terrible and will stay with me, but I've got to get back out on to the pitch. "