Tue Jun 09, 2020 10:59 am
Bradley Dack will be encouraged by return to fitness of ex- Blackburn Rover
Cardiff City player Greg Cunningham
By Rich Sharpe
Tuesday 8th June 2020
The June 20 re-start date for the Championship season will come too soon for Bradley Dack, but the return to training of a former Rover will have given him encouragement, during his rehabilitation.
Boss Neil Harris hasn’t ruled that out, with Cunningham pictured training with his team-mates this week, just eight months since suffering an anterior cruciate ligament injury while on loan at Ewood Park.
The injury at QPR in October 2019 saw his loan spell cut short at Rovers in the January, just weeks after Dack suffered the same injury in a 0-0 draw with Wigan Athletic.
By March, Republic of Ireland international Cunningham had his boots back on again, jogging on the training pitches, but has now resumed full training with the Bluebirds ahead of the Championship season re-starting on June 20.
Although the 28-year-old wasn’t expected to be seen again this season, boss Harris told Wales Online: “Greg Cunningham; the plan for him was to get him back in for pre-season in July, to return for the following season, but he is in really good shape as well.
“Will we see him before the end of July in competitive action? That's a long way off for Greg at the moment, but he is really, really doing well.”
Cunningham, who joined Cardiff from Preston in 2018, signed a season-long loan deal with Rovers on deadline day in August, and impressed in his 10 appearances before injury struck.
Despite agreeing a season-long stay, that was cut short in January, which could well have happened had he stayed fit, given the change in management at Cardiff which saw Neil Warnock replaced by ex-Millwall boss Harris.
Dack is making great strides in his recovery, and had targeted a return to action in September or October. And he will likely be monitoring Cunningham’s progress with interest.
Rovers too will likely be keeping close tabs the progress of the Republic of Ireland international who could be a possible transfer target in the summer, given their plans to recruit a left back, and with Cunningham in to the final year of his Cardiff deal.
Tue Jun 09, 2020 12:19 pm
It would be great if he was a right back and we had JB and GC as our full backs. Unfortunately, I don’t think we are in a position to have two gifted and well payed players vying for the same position, similar to the goalkeeper slot. I do wonder if any of them could do a job on the opposite flank.
Tue Jun 09, 2020 12:24 pm
103 Barmy Army wrote:It would be great if he was a right back and we had JB and GC as our full backs. Unfortunately, I don’t think we are in a position to have two gifted and well payed players vying for the same position, similar to the goalkeeper slot. I do wonder if any of them could do a job on the opposite flank.
My thoughts exactly mate