Alex Finney wants to return to Maidstone once he has recovered from a broken jaw.

QPR loanee Finney expects to be out for six to eight weeks following surgery on a double fracture.

United boss Jay Saunders had an agreement in place to keep him for the rest of the season but that’s on hold after the defender was injured at Dover on Boxing Day.

Finney, whose initial loan expires on Saturday, couldn’t talk and was eating through a straw in hospital.

But he’s on the mend and was at the Gallagher on New Year’s Day to watch the return match against Dover.

He said: “I still consider myself a Maidstone player.

“I love it here, I love the people, I love the fans, I love the club - the club’s been good to me.

“Maidstone will always have a place in my heart.

“Hopefully I can get fit soon and I’ll have a conversation with the gaffer and see where he’s at.

“I understand he’s got to be looking at the squad and strengthening it.

“I’ve put him in a predicament but I’d love to come back to the club, although I understand if that’s not possible.

“They normally say six to eight weeks to recover so we’ve just got to go from there but luckily it’s not a leg injury, so I can still keep my fitness up.”

Finney initially played on after he was accidentally caught by Whites striker Ryan Bird but as the pain grew, he had to admit defeat.

It was only when he got to hospital in London that he learned the extent of the injury.

Surgery has left him with two metal plates in his face which will be there for life.

He said: “It wasn’t for the squeamish but I just take the positives out of it that I can still play football again and I can still run around and I’m still healthy and I can still breathe.

“There was a lot of pain but the surgeon said as soon as they put the two metal plates in it would be a lot better and it has been.

“It’s just getting used to having them in my mouth.

“The plates are permanent. They’ve got dissolving stitches but they’re permanent plates so hopefully when I go on holiday the metal detectors don’t go off!”

Finney was lifted by his trip to the Gallagher and being back around Maidstone team-mates, having made a frustrated patient.

He said: “I didn’t want to be in hospital, I didn’t want to be in a wheelchair because I didn’t feel like I needed it, but it was just one of those things.

“I think that’s probably the hardest thing, missing the banter with the boys and not seeing them on a day-to-day basis.

“I haven’t left my house in a couple of days just because I can’t really speak, so I can’t communicate with a lot of people.

“Being back in that changing room, you just want to go out there and play, no matter what state you’re in. I want to get back out there already.”