Liverpool’s Sports Science and medical team have devised a special training program for Fabio Aurelio in a bid to help him eradicate his injury problems.
The Brazilian full-back made a successful outing when he played for 30 minutes in yesterday's behind closed doors friendly with Crewe Alexandra, and he could be back in contention for a first team place in next week's Europa League trip to Napoli.
He has been on the sidelines with an achilles problem since our 2-1 win in Trabzonspor on August 26, but Head of Sports Science and Sports Medicine Peter Brukner revealed he is not far off a return to action.
"Unfortunately he's had a bad run with the injury and a few weeks ago he had an achilles tendon problem, but we decided to back off and really try and give him some good pre-season training which he needed," said Brukner.
"This is to try and make him a little bit stronger and more resistant to the sort of injuries that have plagued his career over the last couple of years, so time will tell.
"So far he's on track. He played 30 minutes for the reserves against Crewe which was planned. He was fine and we will see how he is, but we are optimistic that over the next couple of weeks he will be able to increase his game time, whether that be at reserve team level or the first team and contribute to the rest of the season.
"Sunday's derby is too early for him to return but he will certainly be available for the trip to Napoli next week and that's up to the manager to decide.
"The problem of course is he hasn't played for a while so you can't really throw him into big games too quickly but hopefully he will get a couple of games to build up his match fitness.
"There's no point in taking shortcuts with Fabio. We want him available for the rest of the season and if that takes an extra week or so to get him back then that's the approach we take.
"He's a lovely guy who works very hard, as hard as anyone on his rehabilitation. Hopefully the strength work we are doing with him will make him able to resist the enormous stresses that come on the body with playing Premier League football.
"Every player at the club has a specific program that they undertake both in the gym and on the training ground.
"We are working hard to make them all fitter and stronger so they will pick up less injuries."
No comments:
Post a Comment