Everton’s Besic itching to make full recovery from horror injury

Everton midfielder Muhamed Besic admits the thought of training with his teammates again is getting him through his gruelling rehab programme at Goodison Park.

The 24-year-old Bosnian saw his season’s aspirations go up in smoke before the campaign had even begun, suffering a dreaded torn anterior cruciate ligament in Wayne Rooney’s summer testimonial match.

Injuries of that type tend to involve a six to eight month lay-off as a minimum, and five-and-a-half months on Besic has been able to pull on his boots and train on the pitches at Everton’s Finch Farm training ground.

And while he is still right in the middle of one of the most difficult periods of his career, Besic remains determined to get back in front of the Toffees’ fans before the end of the season.

“I have needed to have a goal,” he said. “But if it doesn’t happen, it doesn’t matter because the most important thing is my knee. I will always push but the medical staff will take care of me.

“I am always pushing and pushing but they know better than me. They have been holding me back all the time and that’s good because they want me to have a safe recovery.

“They want to make sure that when I go back on the pitch, I’m 100 per cent fit. You know how players are – I want to get back as early as possible – but they have taken care of me really well.

“I had three or four months just in the gym – the first month I was just on a bed waiting to progress. Now I want to progress even more, to train with the team. I’m looking forward to it.

“I had three injuries before. Believe me, it doesn’t matter – it could happen three times more, I will always keep fighting because I’m like that.

“I’m looking forward. I want to train every day and make my leg stronger so nothing like this can happen again.”