Bristol City full-back Jay Dasilva could play before the end of the season, Nigel Pearson has revealed.
Dasilva has not played since December due to a stress fracture in his tibia, which required surgery, but he is scaling up his recovery and has made a return to training.
An injury crisis – and questions surrounding the club's medical department – has marred City's season, which is fizzling out to a frustrating end.
But Pearson – with five games remaining – is hopeful Dasilva could get some minutes before the end of the campaign.
“He’s a player who has dealt with a difficult injury but it’s really good to see him back training,” the manager told Robins TV. “He enjoys his football and he’s a gifted player with a wand of a left foot, so it’s good to see him out there.
“It’s important between now and the end of the season that he finishes this campaign with a knowledge that when pre-season starts he is up and running and that’s the most important thing.
"Hopefully he will get some sort of a game and maybe that’s with the under-23s to start with, but as soon as he is feeling comfortable with his fitness and of course you need to get the exposure of match practice right, so hopefully he’ll be in the frame between now and the end of the season.
“I won’t push him for the sake of it, he’s a well-respected and highly thought of player here and what’s important now is that his recovery is at the right pace so he’s available for next season.”
Andi Weimann and Chris Martin have also undergone surgery to address knee and hamstring issues respectively, and Pearson has paid tribute to the pair's approach to their recovery.
He added: "Both of those lads in particular are really good examples of how professionals need to approach their own recovery.
"It’s not easy to deal with that in terms of the psychological aspects of being out for a long time, but I think they have certainly helped each other, their attitude to being as good as they can be and recover quickly, but also give themselves the best chance of being in good physical shape for the new campaign.
“They should take a lot of credit for that, for the staff as well, they have a high level of motivation and that’s something moving forward which will be very important.”
