Kenny McLean has admitted he faces a race against the clock to be fit for Norwich City's Premier League opener against Liverpool on August 17.
The Scotland international suffered a knee ligament injury on the final day of the Championship season against Barnsley and was subsequently ruled out of Euro 2020.
That absence from Scotland's first major competition in 23 years is something that made McLean feel 'down and disappointed' but he insists he overcame those emotions quickly and refused to feel sorry for himself.
McLean ended up working as a television pundit on Scotland's matches so was present for all of their group stage fixtures.
Despite positive opening weeks of his rehabilitation programme, McLean has admitted that progress has slowed and City's medical staff are now contemplating giving him an injection in the hope it will speed up his recovery.
The original timescale for his recovery was around 12 weeks, with eight of those weeks having passed since the full-time whistle at Oakwell.
As things stand, McLean is set to return to training two weeks before the beginning of the top-flight campaign and faces a race to be fit for the game against Liverpool.
“The injury was eight weeks ago this weekend and I was originally told it would be twelve weeks, so hopefully I’m still on course.
“The last couple of weeks haven’t gone as well as I’d have hoped - I’ve not progressed too much and I think next week I might get an injection to try and speed things up a bit."
City begin their pre-season training this Monday, with their opening friendly fixture against King's Lynn Town taking place on Friday, July 16 at the Walks. McLean won't be among the group preparing for the new season initially but is still hopeful of returning for the back end of their preparations.
“But hopefully I’ll be able to get two weeks pre-season in before our Premier League opener against Liverpool," the Scot told BBC Sportsound.
“The mental side is the toughest part of being injured. The summer would normally be the best time to get injured, but the Euros killed that for me.
“I’ve just been in with the physio for three weeks, Monday to Friday, and it’s tough because his banter’s terrible.
“Fortunately the boys are back in on Monday so I’m looking forward to seeing them.”
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