Original Coverage & Source Attribution: www.pinkun.com
The 25-year-old central midfielder suffered a knee ligament injury two games into Philippe Clement’s tenure, but is targeting minutes against West Ham’s Under-21s on Friday.
Topic’s return could not be better timed with captain Kenny McLean out with an ankle injury.
“For him it’s like the first baby steps back to being a football player,’ said the City boss.
“He’s been working really hard to come back. He’s in a good place now. I think for him it’s going to be like a Champions League final to be back on the pitch against the under-21s of West Ham. He’s been doing sessions with us now the past two weeks, in the beginning partial, later on more and more, and he’s going to play on Friday.
“It’s a big day for him. A big moment for us but also to be realistic that we have players who are out six months, seven months, 10 months out, and you come back and you cannot expect that they’re in their best ways like they were before. So they need time for that.
“Jovon (Makama) is also an example of that. He is coming back step by step, doing more and more trainings, getting minutes, and with Ante (Crnac) the same. But of course, you’re not in a pre-season any more that we can give chances just to get them match fit.”
Gabe Forsyth is another central midfielder on the comeback trail after two years out with knee-related problems.
The Scot has missed the last two development games with a minor setback.
“He had a small, how to say this, backwards step but everybody is working really safe with him,” said Clement, speaking at Colney on Tuesday ahead of Southampton’s midweek Championship visit.
“So when he feels something, then all the alarms go off after the last two years, but he’s had a scan and there’s not something worrying, so it’s about building up a to get him back into the sessions and the u21 games, like the plan was, so that’s going to be starting shortly.”
