Bouma's Wants His Shirt Back

Freddy Bouma isn't just content to have returned to training, he's got a very clear message for Mr Shorey and Mr Warnock...'gis us me shirt back!'

In an interview on the official site Freddy has insisted that the final piece in the recovery from injury jigsaw is simply match fitness.

This is something he'll be working hard on in the coming weeks, and then he's planning on making life difficult for those colleagues who will be keeping him out of the squad.

The Fredster has said he feel far better this time round, than he has at any point previous when he's started training with the squad again and the remaining discomfort he feels in his ankle is 'all but gone'. Each previous breakdown when he returned to training had a tendancy to point to another problem, such as floating shards of bone, so being optimistic even they served their purpose.

This time round he feels good, he feels fit, and he's raring to go and return properly.

'I feel much freer now though. The discomfort is as good as gone. Now it's about fitness.'

It admits he has a bumpy ride ahead of him to get sharp after missing pre season, but I doubt it'll be long before he becomes a regular in the reserves again, in fact he thinks it'll only be a matter of weeks.

'I can do everything now. It feels great but I'm aware that I need to get that match fitness back and that's what I'm working really hard on.

'Getting match fit is my aim and hopefully I'll be able to take part in some reserve games soon. But you need a few weeks out training before you can do that.'

He does admit that after previous problems with 'planned returns' neither he nor the club are setting any strict timeframes at the moment. Bouma no doubt has his own personal targets, such as a few weeks for the reserves, but there's no way he's prepared to rush things this time round.

If his return takes a little longer than he'd hope, then there's not much he can do about that, he does however desperately hope that despite not rushing his return 'it's as soon as possible'.

Bouma has displayed a fantastic attitude given the 14 months of hell he's had, and I don't doubt for a second that come the second half of the season there'll be some more than 'friendly' rivalry between him and our other leftbacks.

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