Slaven Bilic chose every word very carefully but it’s clear Diafra Sakho is close to a return.

The central striker rejoined the first team squad for training today after being with the under-21s and the manager spent some time discussing his immediate future.

After all the negative press about him not returning this season ,Slaven – whilst not going over the top – gave every hope that the 27 year old would be back before much longer.

He explained in discussing his injury and prospects: “It was a major one, so he has been training very good and active, first with the medical staff and fitness coaches on an individual basis, then he did some training with the Under-23s.

“He is back on a list of fit players for training, but then we have to consider the amount of time that he was out.

“Hopefully he is going to be back for us very soon, if it continues like this, which is great news for us, but the Hull game comes too early.

“He is very positive and says ‘I want to play, please, please!’ and is pushing in a positive way, which is what we want, but we have to think about his fitness because there is a big difference between training and games, because in training you can control your movement and all that.

“We are going to wait but, as I said, we will see his fitness in the training sessions and push him hard to do everything.

“He’s going to train to break that barrier that is always there when you have a long break, especially after an operation  and hopefully he’s going to be in the team really soon.”