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Arsenal physio Lewin backs Eduardo return

12/06/2008

Arsenal physio Gary Lewin has confirmed injured striker Eduardo is likely to be a surprise inclusion in the club's pre-season training programme this summer.

The 25-year-old was told he would be out until at least Christmas as a result of a fractured dislocation of his ankle following a mistimed tackle by Birmingham City defender Martin Taylor during the sides' 2-2 draw in February.

Eduardo was ruled out of Croatia's Euro 2008 campaign as a result of the horrific injury, with some experts predicting a recovery period of anything up to 18 months if there were any complications during surgery or rehabilitation.

But Lewin, who has been closely monitoring Eduardo's progress over the last four months, says he is "confident he will make a full recovery".

"Eduardo will be longer although hopefully he will be back doing training during preseason," he said in an interview with the Arsenal website.

"We are setting no timescales for Eduardo because we don't want to put him under pressure."

He continued: "We have had some real nasty injuries and I think that is part and parcel of the game.

"Look back at the years we have been successful and we have had luck with injuries and not picked up many nasty injuries. Hopefully that will be the case next season."

Lewin also said there was good news regarding Czech Republic midfielder Tomas Rosicky, who endured an injury-ravaged 2007/08 season.

A knee injury prevented him from being named in the squad for Euro 2008 but the Gunners physio said he is sure he will be fine to begin a full preseason programme.

"Tomas has had surgery on his knee and we expect him to be flying by preseason," Lewin added.