Steve McClaren has revealed that George Thorne is in line to return to the Derby County squad for this weekend’s FA Cup Fifth Round tie against Reading.
Steve McClaren has revealed that George Thorne is in line to return to the Derby County squad for this weekend’s FA Cup Fifth Round tie against Reading.
The 22-year-old midfielder, signed from West Bromwich Albion last summer, has been out of action since he suffered an anterior cruciate ligament injury to his left knee in Derby’s pre-season friendly against Zenit St Petersburg.
Thorne underwent surgery days later and has made excellent progress throughout his rehabilitation programme.
He resumed full training last month and has added minutes under his belt in recent weeks with three appearances for Derby’s Under 21 side.
Steve McClaren, the Derby Head Coach, says Thorne will play some part in this weekend’s clash with the Royals and make an emotional return to the squad.
He told Rams Player: “I want George involved either from the start or on the bench, I don’t know which. I definitely want him involved, though.
“He has at the level now; he has worked his way up to playing 90 minutes with three games of Under 21 football. It’s important now that we reintroduce him at the right time.”
There was further good news on the Rams’ injury front with striker Johnny Russell due to return to full training imminently after almost three weeks out with a hamstring problem.
McClaren hopes to welcome the Scottish international back into the squad for next weekend’s Sky Bet Championship encounter with Sheffield Wednesday at the iPro Stadium.
He said:“Johnny Russell will be back training maybe tomorrow, but he will definitely be back early next week. He could feature next Saturday, which is a big plus for us.
“John Eustace is also progressing very well as well, so it will be good to get these players back integrated into the side.”
Meanwhile, striker Chris Martin has been ruled out of action for ‘a few weeks’ after picking up a hamstring injury in Tuesday’s 2-2 draw at AFC Bournemouth.
Martin, who has scored 19 times for Derby this season, picked up the injury in the first half of the game and was replaced by Darren Bent.
McClaren explained: “Hopefully Chris is only out for between two and three weeks – as long as he works hard and gets the right treatment.
“Losing him could have upset the squad on Tuesday, but we are very fortunate to have Darren Bent. Chris is hard to replace, but Darren has stepped in for a couple of games and he has not looked out of place.
“He looks a natural in our side and you need that. We’ve had to change quite a bit over the season and we are hoping the squad will keep producing when we do lose players like Chris Martin.”
