Blues boss Roy Keane says Argentinian midfielder Luciano Civelli has by no means been written off, despite having been out of first team action since March 2009. The Town manager says Civelli could be in contention for a return to senior football in the next couple of months but stresses the importance of remaining patient after such a serious injury.
Keane says the former Banfield man, who is 24 next Wednesday, is making progress: "He’ll be fine, he’s getting good medical care, he’s getting training sessions under his belt, he’s not stop-start, but he needs games. And he might get some in the first team over the next month or two.
"Nobody’s writing anybody off, far from it, if anything we’re very positive about Luca. He’s trained well in the last week or so.”
The Blues boss says match time is now what Civelli needs most: "It’s just a case of getting some games under his belt. He’s been out for 17 or 18 months and I’d say that he’s had about 180 minutes in terms of game time. He had a little taste of it in pre-season and had a run out at Colchester last week.
"The boy needs a few games, needs that core fitness to come up and he’ll be OK. Luca will be fine, but patience is the key for Luca.”
But Keane warns the £1.1 million January 2009 signing that he faces stiff opposition for a place in his side: "He’s got good competition now to get back into the team, which is a good problem for me.
"But we’re not trying to throw him back into the team. There’s always a danger of doing that when a player’s been out for a long time, like we did with David Norris last season and a little bit with Connor recently.
"In an ideal world you’d like to wait a little bit, but sometimes the players come back and force their way into your plans. But Luca’s got tough competition in terms of the players ahead of him at the moment, the likes of Reggie, Carlos, Andros, all lads who can play in those wide positions for us.”
Overall, Keane says Civelli, who suffered the injury in his eighth game for the club, the 1-1 draw with Burnley in March 2009, is making headway: "He’s doing well, Luca. He did well in training last week, knuckled down and hopefully he’ll get another 90 minutes under his belt [in a reserves friendly next week]. Never mind 45 or 60 minutes, he needs 90 minutes under his belt.”
The Blues boss, who suffered a less severe but still serious knee ligament injury during his time with Manchester United, says it’s not just the knee itself that is the issue: "Besides the physical battle it’s sometimes the mental side. Sometimes it’s a mental job — going into a few tackles, sometimes you need a few tackles on you.
"You do get back eventually but you need that bit of support and need to be mentally tough. He has to keep his head down, knuckle down and work hard.”