Forster could return next month

Southampton goalkeeper Fraser Forster could return to action next month going by what Saints manager Ronald Koeman revealed in his pre-Sunderland press conference.

Forster has been out since going off injured against Burnley in late March of this year and has still yet to return to full training. However, Koeman has said that he is progressing fantastically well from the knee injury and should return to full training with the rest of the squad within the next 4-5 weeks.

He has already started sessions with England and Southampton goalkeeper coach David Watson, which is already a good indicator as to how well he is progressing through his injury and how close he is to a return.

He’s doing very good.

Everything is going to plan, it is fast.

I don’t say he will be back in four weeks but it’s going good.

He worked very hard and is already training with Dave Watson and that’s real goalkeeper sessions.

Everybody is happy how he is and how he is recovering well. We know it is a long time and it takes time to recover to 100 per cent. He will come back.

Despite saying Forster is likely to return to training in four weeks, he has said it will take longer than that for him to return to Premier League action. It will take time for him to bed back into the side and play a few Under-21 matches before he returns to the senior side.

I like to have all the players available. On one side the decisions are more difficult but you have more options.

Fraser is a great goalkeeper. We need him tomorrow, not in the future. We need everybody. We have a good squad, for the tough Premier League.

He can be part of the group in four, five weeks. He’s coming back from April, which is a long time.

He needs continued training and his first game will be in the under-21s. That’s the same for goalkeepers, defenders, midfielders, everybody, everyone players for the under 21s.