Star Perth Glory winger Salim Khelifi could make a shock return as early as this weekend after his foot injury turned out to be a minor issue.
Khelifi was in danger of missing the rest of the A-League Men season after injuring his foot in the 3-1 win over Melbourne Victory on January 21.
It was the same foot Khelifi had damaged previously in his career.
But a follow-up assessment after several weeks in a moon boot has cleared Khelifi of serious injury, and now he's an outside chance to play a part in Saturday night's clash with Central Coast at Macedonia Park.
"In the end it's not as bad as we first thought. It's a big positive for him," Glory coach Ruben Zadkovich said on Thursday.
"He's had an injury in that foot before and because he's had some surgery there, there was some previous work done.
"We had to go through a process of making sure we spoke to the surgeons overseas and make sure we had some really good clarity on the issue.
"He will be back with us either this weekend or next weekend, or the weekend after, depending on how his training progresses."
In another positive for Glory, Irish midfielder Aaron McEneff is making good progress from his own foot injury.
No timeline has been set on McEneff's return, but it could be soon if he gets positive news from his surgeon.
"He's progressing really well," Zadkovich said.
"He's got to get some clearance from the surgeon for the next phase of his progression to training. But he's looking really good, which is great."
Glory will be without Darryl Lachman against the second-placed Mariners after the defender was red carded in last week's 4-2 loss to Melbourne City.
That result dropped Glory to ninth, but they are just two points adrift of the top six.
Striker Adam Taggart is on track to play a more sizeable role against the Mariners after pulling up well from his latest cameo off the bench.
Taggart, who is still building back to full fitness after suffering a quad setback last month, came on in the 77th minute against Melbourne City and is pushing for more game time this Saturday.
"Tags is looking good," Zadkovich said.
"It's been nice to see him get some minutes for us.
"He wants to play, he's said that to me a few times. But he understands as well, and he knows his limitations.
"He trained well today, so I've got high hopes for him to play a big part on the weekend."
