Liam Walsh is edging ever closer to a return to action for Swansea City having been sidelined since the summer.
The central midfielder ruptured his Achilles during a pre-season win over Haverfordwest County on the opening day of July and underwent surgery that has kept him out ever since.
The 25-year-old has since stepped up his training regime of late and is due to feature for the club's under-21s next month as part of his return to first-team availability.
"He'll play a half and then a 60 to try to build it up," Russell Martin told WalesOnline prior to the 1-1 draw with QPR.
"Once he's got enough minutes in the tank he'll be in contention for us. We just need to see how he gets through those games. He's looked really good so it's great to have him back."
Walsh had had a rotten period since joining Swansea on a free transfer after being released by Bristol City in the summer of 2021.
He has not played in a single one of his club's 31 matches in all competitions so far this term owing to the aforementioned injury sustained during pre-season.
A hamstring injury hampered his progress early on last season, but, even then, the former Everton academy product featured in just seven of the 30 matches Swansea played while he was at the club last term and three of the 18 while he was on loan at Hull City.
It means he has featured in just 12.7% (10/79) of the matches played by the Swans and the Tigers since he moved to the Swansea.com Stadium from Ashton Gate.
Walsh has not completed a full match since leaving Bristol City, with his last full 90 coming for the Robins against Rotherham United in March 2021.
So, having played just 380 of the 7,110 minutes worth of matches played by Swansea and Hull during his time at both clubs combined, Walsh has played just 5.3% of the minutes played by the clubs. Of course, the two injuries discussed account for a huge proportion of his absence, but the record is deeply concerning.
Now though, the midfielder - who still has 18 months left to run on his contract - will be bidding to finally put his struggles behind him and contribute towards Swansea's play-off push having caught the eye of the coaching staff last summer prior to his horror injury.
"He was one of the top performers in pre-season. He was outstanding. If he can come back looking anywhere near that he'll be good for us," said Martin.
"He's got a brilliant group of players to support him. We've given him time off when he's needed it because he's on his own down here.
"He's managed it really well. He's had a break when he's needed it and he's worked so hard. We're all keeping our fingers crossed and we all hope that this is the start of a prolonged period of him being fit and being able to play for us."
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