Thursday Mar 30 2006 13:38
Birmingham City midfielder Medhi Nafti is back in training after a long-term knee injury, but is still several weeks away from first-team contention.
The 27-year-old impressed while on loan with the Blues last season, but sustained serious cruciate knee ligament damage in pre-season after sealing a permanent move from Racing Santander.
Nafti told the Birmingham Mail: "It is really good to be back with the other players and kicking a ball again.
"I hope to play at least 45 minutes for the reserves next Monday and then we will take things from there.
"It could still be a few weeks before I am ready for the first team again and I wouldn't want to play unless I was right and could give it 100 per cent.
"When I started my new deal, my thought was to try to play better than before and I felt the club's ambition was to be in the top ten.
"But you can never predict what is going to happen in football."
Nafti made ten appearances for the Blues last season, before agreeing a three-year contract last summer.
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