Dougie Freedman says Stuart Holden could be back in training with Bolton Wanderers early next year. The U.S. international is currently back home recovering from aknee injury he suffered while playing for the USA at the 2013 Gold Cup in August. It was the 28-year-old’s third major knee injury suffered during his time with Bolton, which means he has onlymade five appearances since March 2011.
According to Freedman, Holden is due back in the U.K. just before Christmas. Despite his history of injury problems, the Bolton coach is cautiouslyoptimistic about his progress. “I’m in contact with Stuart and he’s doing well,” Freedman told the club’s official site. “We do know he is set to come back over here in the near future. We’reexpecting to see him just before Christmas.”
“We obviously need to make sure that his comeback isn’t rushed and that everything is okay. On the phone he sounds in good spirits, butthat’s the kind of guy he is. When he comes back, he’s going to spend a month or so with us so that we can make sure that the rehabilitation is being done in the right way.”
He added: “Theplan then is for over the Christmas period and into January he’ll head back over to the States to make sure that the guys who are doing his rehab are fully up to speed. Then when he’s at a good levelhopefully we can look at reintroducing him to training into the early part of the year.”