Swiss defender Gaetano Berardi's road to recovery is coming to a close with news that he starts in today's U23s match with Crystal Palace in South London.
The 32-year-old severely injured his knee as Leeds United's promotion campaign came to a close last season, and was faced with the prospect of being an injured free agent.
The club stepped in to extend his deal by 12 months in order to facilitate his recovery, and seven months on, Berardi appears to be at a level where Marcelo Bielsa deems him able to return to the fold.
Bielsa did stress Berardi would play U23 football before he would be considered for a first-team recall, in order to ensure he was firstly of the required standard, as well as fully-recovered from his lengthy spell out on the sidelines.
It is a similar path to recovery trodden by Spanish centre-back Diego Llorente. Upon returning from a number of setbacks, Llorente was handed an U23s start at Thorp Arch earlier this year prior to his first start against Newcastle United.
While Llorente was then taken off just ten minutes into his full debut, the club are likely to be even more cautious with Berardi whose injury was more serious, and is five years Llorente's senior.
Berardi still faces a race against time to prove his fitness and quality in order to make a first-team appearance between now and the end of the season.
Leeds have just 12 Premier League games remaining this season, and with the summer additions of Llorente and Robin Koch, Berardi is further down the pecking order in central defence than when he sustained his injury.
Today, he steps in for Charlie Cresswell who drops to the bench.
Keep up to date with all the U23s action with our live-blog here.
