Blues midfielder Andre Dozzell has made the first steps on the long road to recovery from the torn cruciate knee ligament which ended his season on the opening day against Birmingham.
The club tweeted the 18-year-old, who suffered his injury when he landed awkwardly just before half-time in the 1-0 victory over the Midlanders, back in the gym on an AlterG anti-gravity treadmill.
England U19 international Dozzell, who underwent surgery three weeks ago, is expected to be out of action for nine months.
Great to see @andredozzell back in the gym on the AlterG treadmill in his first session of gait re-education 🙌 #itfc pic.twitter.com/9rdSPO5Tc7– Ipswich Town FC (@Official_ITFC) September 5, 2017
Great to see @andredozzell back in the gym on the AlterG treadmill in his first session of gait re-education 🙌 #itfc pic.twitter.com/9rdSPO5Tc7– Ipswich Town FC (@Official_ITFC) September 5, 2017
Meanwhile, midfielder Emyr Huws has not yet undergone surgery having seen a specialist regarding his achilles problem last Tuesday.
Town boss Mick McCarthy, who said prior to that appointment that he expected the Wales international to require an operation, is likely to confirm whether the 23-year will go under the knife at his press conference on Thursday, which will be covered live by TWTV.
McCarthy will also now have a better idea how long skipper Luke Chambers might be out of action, the central defender having suffered a partial tear to two ligaments and a small fracture to his ankle in the Millwall match.
Now it's time to re-build some muscle on them legs 🤣🙌🽠https://t.co/h07hXlEZw8– AD23 (@andredozzell) September 5, 2017
Chambers, who was initially expected to be out for around a month, was also set to see a specialist last week. Saturday’s game against QPR is almost certain to come too soon for the 31-year-old.
Midfielder Luke Hyam could return to the first-team squad for the first time this season after playing three U23s matches having recovered from his knee injury.
Summer signing Tom Adeyemi is also expected to be in the squad for the first time since joining Town having played two U23s matches during the international break. The 25-year-old was first sidelined by illness and then by a calf injury.
Bersant Celina and Danny Rowe also got U23s minutes under their belts during pre-season, also having been unwell during the first month of the season, the Kosovo international netting a brilliant freekick during Saturday's 2-1 win at Sheffield Wednesday.
U23 | @BersantCelina scored a screamer, and Ben Folami grabbed a late winner as Town's U23s beat @swfc 2-1 on Saturday#itfc pic.twitter.com/WrbVknC4dD– Ipswich Town FC (@Official_ITFC) September 5, 2017