Aston Villa: Wilfred Bouma tipped to end injury hell

Dec 9 2009 By Mat Kendrick

WILFRED Bouma has been tipped by manager Martin O’Neill to finally end 18 months of injury hell and make his long-awaited first-team return during the second half of the campaign.

Bouma, who has missed almost a season-and-a-half after severely dislocating his ankle, is now set to wear a protective boot until Christmas time after suffering a toe problem.

But O’Neill is confident the Dutch defender is over the worst of the original injury and will be fit enough to make his competitive comeback during 2010.

“Freddie had a bit of a setback with a toe injury,” said O’Neill.

“He has gone to see a specialist who is recommending we immobilise it for a week or two and see how that works. It probably should do the trick.

“The toe injury itself is a side issue. His ankle is absolutely fine. The second half of the season I’m hoping, when this toe thing clears up, that he should be back and raring to go.

“It’s been a tough old 18 months for him.”

Meanwhile, Curtis Davies is also making positive progress with the shoulder problem which has sidelined him since he underwent surgery in September.

“I think it’s the first or second week in January again when he sees the specialist,” added O’Neill.

“Nobody wants to push that forward and I don’t think there is any need to.

“We just need the specialist’s go-ahead on these things and that’s what we’re being guided by.

“At the moment Curtis is feeling pretty good. He is doing all other types of training – obviously running to keep his cardiovascular up – he’s right on schedule and things are going well.”