Manuel Lanzini will return to Rush Green this week as he begins the latest stage of his rehabilitation programme.
The 25-year-old has been sidelined since sustaining torn ligaments in his right knee on the eve of the World Cup Finals, leading him to miss the entire tournament and, almost certainly, the first half of the 2018/19 Premier League campaign.However West Ham Head of Medical Richard Collinge says that he is pleased with Lanzini's progress so far.
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"It’s great to have him back," Collinge told whufc.com. "Manu has been incredibly positive from day one and, three months down the line, he’s got a target in mind and we’re working towards that.
"Rehab-wise we have a plan in place; Manu is very disciplined, very motivated and we’re moving in the right direction.
"We want to make sure we give him every opportunity to get back as quickly and as safely as possible. We have certain benchmarks and data levels we need to look at that Manu can surpass to make sure he’s fit and available.
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"There’s a certain amount of bed-based work that we’re doing. We mobilise the knee every day and do soft-tissue work, then we step into the gym and do some activation work.
"He’s been working on the spin bike and doing some balance work - what we call proprioception, which is working on the reactions of the knee, effectively.
"Then he’s doing some strength work for the whole lower-limb chain, the quadriceps and hamstrings around the knee injury in particular. We want to ensure they are firing off nice and strong."
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Collinge also confirmed that in addition to his physical well-being, the club are ensuring that his mental state remains as positive as possible, given the circumstances surrounding his injury.
"There is always that initial phase with any injury where the player struggles psychologically," added Collinge. "Our methodology as a medical team is to make sure that we support a player psychologically as well as physically."
Lanzini last featured for West Ham on the final day of the 2017/18 season in a 3-1 win over this weekend's opponents Everton - a game in which he scored twice to take his tally for the season to five goals from 29 appearances.
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