Sven upbeat on Bojinov
23 Oct 2007 - 12:46:27
Manchester City boss Sven-Goran Eriksson has revealed that Valeri Bojinov is making a quicker than anticipated recovery from his serious knee injury.
The Bulgarian star suffered the problem in August's Manchester derby and was forced to have an operation after damaging cruciate knee ligaments.
Eriksson told City's official website: "It's looking good and I'm told by the medical people that for that kind of injury he's looking in good shape.
"I don't push people, so it's very difficult to say which date he can start training with the others, or when he's ready to play.
"I don't think anyone can say that now, but hopefully around Christmas he might be taking part in training sessions, and then we'll see when he's match-fit.
Everything looks good for Valeri at the moment."
Meanwhile, the City boss has backed Georgios Samaras to revive his career at Eastlands.
The 22-year-old has scored 12 goals in his 61 appearances for the club but has failed to start a Premier League match since April.
Eriksson said of the Greece international: "To be fair, he could have gone if he'd wanted, but he came to me and said 'I want to stay here and I want to fight.'
"I'm very happy that he did that because he came on very well again on Saturday. He's a fantastic boy, professional, works hard and is always open to discuss things. He has an opinion about his football and that is very good.
"Of course, he can learn a lot. I think he needs to decide what type of player he wants to be because I don't think he's one that does a lot of tricks.
"He should use his physical power. He's an extremely good header and if he uses his body, the defenders will feel that. I see him as a central striker and a good one as well."
