Portsmouth winger Andre Green is nearing a return to action after a frustrating injury lay-off, according to The News.
The England under-20 international arrived at Fratton Park in August, on a season-long loan from Championship side Aston Villa.
However, the young prodigy was sidelined shortly after signing when he had a cyst removed from the ACL in his right leg.
Green claimed that he had been struggling with the injury for most of the year, but Pompey boss Kenny Jackett was quick to defend his club’s handling of the loanee:
“Obviously it has flared up, but there was no indication to us that this was going to be a problem through our medical.
“Cysts don’t generally show up on medicals, apart from very extensive MRI scans, and then you are reliant on the player and the club to tell you there may be a problem – which wasn’t the case. I was genuinely surprised when he said he’d spoken to the Aston Villa doctor and wanted the cyst removed.
“You are reliant on the player generally telling you of any potential problems and that wasn’t mentioned by him or his parent club in the context that it might be a problem to us going forward.”
Jackett is now hopeful that Green will be available for selection as early as the beginning of November:
“It is coming on well and, for him, it’s just about bits of movement. Andre will train at some stage through October definitely and I’ve got in my mind maybe being match fit around the start of November. If he is quicker than that, great. No problems with that, but that just looks the timeframe.
“He is currently at Villa and will be down when they are confident his movement is just above the basic. We can then start integrating him without getting him up to full speed, so we can assess.
“Through most of October he will be looked after and, come the end of this month or start of next month, he should be fully fit, firing and hopefully ready to go.
“He’s okay, he’s good, and itching to get his Portsmouth career going after such a stuttering start.”
The return of Green would be a boost for Portsmouth, who are already flying high at the summit of the League One table. On the other hand, his parent club aren’t faring as well in the second tier. Villa are currently languishing in mid-table obscurity and recently axed manager Steve Bruce.
