West Ham United Football Club News

• Nickname:Hammers
• Founded:1895
• Manager:Sam Allardyce

• Ground:Upton Park
• Capacity:35,595

Illness halts Dyer comeback

19 Dec 2008 - 07:28:41

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West Ham United midfielder Kieron Dyer's comeback from a broken leg has been placed on hold due to illness.

Dyer, 29, has been out of action since suffering a double leg break in August 2007.

The England midfielder made his first competitive appearance this year in a specially-arranged game last week but was forced off at half-time after suffering with a virus.

The former Newcastle United and Ipswich Town midfielder had hoped to be back in contention for a place in the first team over the festive period.

"He's not ready yet," said Hammers assistant manager Steve Clarke.

"He played his first game last week but had to come off at half-time because he was suffering from the flu.

"That was last Thursday, and today was his first day back at training - so where he was this time last week, he's now further back because he's missed so much training from being ill.

"I spoke to him today and he's not so chipper because he's recovering from the flu and is a bit down.

"He's been out a long time and I think any player who's been out a long time starts to feel a little bit down.

"We need to get some match-fitness into him so we can welcome him back when he's ready.

"It's important that it's when he's ready and not before he's ready because then he'll pick up more injuries.

"He had no reaction from the game injury-wise, but we didn't see him for six days after the game so for me, that's a bad reaction."