Striker Paul Taylor says he’s hoping to be back in action before the end of the season, however, manager Mick McCarthy is more cautious about the 25-year-old’s prospects of returning before May. Taylor, who joined the Blues from Peterborough for an initial fee of £1.5 million in August, suffered a foot injury which eventually required surgery in only his third game for Town.
Taylor told the club site: "My recovery is going well and I am making good progress. We will see how things go but I’m hoping to be back before the season is over. That’s the target.”
McCarthy says players tend to be positive in these circumstances but believes things have to be taken slowly: "Paul’s optimistic about it, but that’s always the case.
"You get injured, you’re completely demoralised, you’re in a boot and then when you come back you never think it’s going to happen, but they’re fit young men so they heal pretty quickly.
"You start your rehab and then suddenly he’s running on the Alter-G, the machine where you can take 90% of your bodyweight off and he gets a bit of a kick out of that.
"He’s optimistic. I’m not being pessimistic, I’m being realistic, if he’s not right, he ain’t starting. There’s no point in him coming back for a couple of games and then finding out he’s injured for the close season.
"If he’s right, brilliant, but I think the prognosis for him at the start was six months and that date would be the end of the season. But he’ll go off to St George’s Park and have some rehab there as well.”