West Ham have received a welcomed boost after it was revealed their summer signing, Andre Ayew, had returned to full training for the first time in more than two months.
Ayew, 26, was initially ruled out for four months after needing surgery to correct a thigh injury picked up 35 minutes into his competitive debut against Chelsea in August.
However, the Ghana international, who joined from Swansea over the summer in a deal worth £20.5m, has recovered much quicker than expected and manager Slaven Bilic has confirmed the former Swansea forward is now back in training.
“We are expecting him [Ayew] back later, in December or late November, so we are delighted that he’s back and now we’re going to see,” The Daily Mail quote Bilic as saying.
“He looks good in training and we’re going to try to prepare to him for games as soon as possible. We have a couple of sessions before the game against Sunderland and then we’ll see. “If we talk about Saturday I’m not going to rule it out, but it’s unlikely.”
The Hammers have endured a disastrous start to the season and need bodies back quickly to help arrest their form. A 1-0 win over Crystal palace in their last match was their first in six matches and the return of Ayew will help provide a threat in the attacking third of the pitch.
Bilic’s side have only managed to score more than one goal in two of their opening eight league matches and Ayew, who scored 12 goals for Swansea last season, will be thought of as one of their main goalscoring options.
For more stats on Andre Ayew, click here to visit his WhoScored player page
