Ade Azeez on course for imminent return at Cambridge United

Striker making good progress in injury recovery

Ade Azeez could make a return to the Cambridge United fold sooner than expected.

The 23-year-old summer signing from Partick Thistle suffered a knee injury in the defeat to Barnet at the beginning of September, and it was feared that he could be out until next year.

But U’s head coach Shaun Derry offered a brighter prognosis for the striker, who was just starting to get into his stride when he suffered the problem.

“It was a big kick for us because he gives us a different type of impetus upfront when he is on the pitch,” said Derry.

“He stretches the field, is full of pace and tenacity, and we’ve not had that since he’s been away.

“Where he is at this moment in time is back on the grass and doing a lot of high-speed runs, and when a player like Ade is doing that, you realise he is actually pretty quickly going to be available to us.

“Whether that is going to be in the next two or three weeks, we’re unsure. But I don’t think it will be as long as we thought it would be at the beginning, which is a great boost.”

Azeez was given some time away from Cambridge to help him adjust to a long spell on the sidelines, and it appears to have done him the power of good.

“We sent him away on a week’s holiday and I think he enjoyed that, and I think that just cleared his head really; you come back revitalised,” said Derry.

“I know myself, when I’ve had longer term operations or injuries that have kept me out, you don’t want to be in and around the training ground in those early stages of recovery because your head completely falls off.

“We allowed him to take that breathing space and get away, and he’s come back and Ade is a character that people want to be around.”

He added: “If we can see him before Christmas, that would be a massive boost for us and for him as well. I had it in my mind that it was perhaps going to be round about the end of January so to see him back before Christmas would be brilliant.”