Isaac sees an end to his injury hell at last

ISAAC Vassell is closing in on his long-awaited Blues return.

The striker was originally injured against Villa in October of last year when he ruptured an anterior cruciate knee ligament and then suffered a setback during the summer.

However, he has made good progress since and is almost ready to return to match action after more than 12 months on the sidelines.

Neither Vassell nor midfielder David Davis have kicked a ball between them this campaign.

While one’s return is imminent, the other is set to remain absent for another extended period.

“Isaac should be joining us for training in the international break, after the Hull game,” said manager Garry Monk. “That’s so far, so good in his rehab.

“David Davis is quite a way away. I wouldn’t like to set a specific date because we don’t quite know but what I can say is that his healing process has been really good.

“In his early stage of rehab, in terms of his fracture and his ankle, it’s healed really well. He’s moving on to that next stage where he’s weightbearing on it, and strengthening it. “At this point, it’s gone as perfectly as it could have gone. “But what comes now, there are things around the fracture, like ligaments that are going to start working again now he’s going to start loading it up. “We won’t know until he’s doing those stages, whether there’s any reaction, or whether it knits together. “All I can say is it’s gone as well as we could have wanted.”

Monk is hoping to have Jacques Maghoma available for the Second City derby.

Blues travel to Villa on Sunday, November 25 and hope to do so with their experienced winger back up to full speed. The 31-year-old was injured in the 2-1 win over Reading a fortnight ago.

“We got the scan back, it’s not bad news but it’s not good news either,” Monk said.

“We are probably looking at the second week in the international break – maybe coming back into training. The target is to be fit for the Aston Villa game.”

>